Wanna Bet?
by carefreekutie
Summary: "Fine! I accept your challenge you bloody arseholes"-Draco "You have until the day before graduation to find a way to get into Granger's pants" -Blaise Draco makes a bet with his two best mates that he can sleep with the brainy female of the golden trio before the end of the year. But what happens when she can see through his barriers and he ends up falling hard for her?
1. Chapter 1

**Wanna Bet**

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related characters, themes, and mythical creations belong to the lovely JK Rowling. I own nothing.**

**AN: Oh my goodness it feels like it's been forever since I was last on ff when it was really only a few weeks. Can I just say for the record, I hate school? This is the first time I've gotten a break in a while. So anyway about this story…before you leave comments, yes I know this idea is terribly cliché, and yes there are probably a hundred fics with this couple and idea. But this is also my take on it, so hopefully it will keep you entertained enough to stick with it because once again I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with the storyline. Also as a side note to flamers… I realize I am not the greatest writer who ever lived. (Believe me I know because JK Rowling has taken that wonderful title!) However, this is just a hobby and something I do in my spare time and I'm not looking into seriously pursuing a writing career, so negative words really won't have your desired effect on me and would just be a waste of both of our times. Having said that, I have no problem with constructive criticism and welcome that if you didn't like the way something happened or ideas on how to make this story more entertaining for you, as long as you do so in a respectful manner. I aim to please : ) Now that I'm sure I've thoroughly bored you if you're even still reading this, onto the plot!**

Hands covered their mouths as they giggled and shot him sultry smiles and flirty looks while batting fake eyelashes at him. Draco in return shot them his signature Malfoy smirk that was sure to have melted their hearts and knickers. The group of sixth year Slytherin girls giggled harder and whispered to each other as he continued to walk past, no doubt telling each other how incredibly sexy and god like he was. He was damn good looking and he knew it.

Continuing on his way down the hall, the entire female population at Hogwarts it seemed continued to flaunt themselves at him. Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, and hell even a few Gryffindors couldn't resist trying to catch the Slytherin Prince's eye. His already out of control ego was boosted a few more levels as he finally walked into the Great Hall.

Approaching the Slytherin table, he took his usual spot next to Blaise, and across from Theo. Reaching for a piece of toast and butter he looked up to catch the eyes of yet another group of giggling girls who quickly looked away when he winked at them. Theo, who had watched the whole interaction, rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Merlin's balls, will you cut it out? Seriously it's only the second day of term!" Theo snapped as he took a large drink of coffee. He wasn't a morning person, and the grating sounds of their giggles were getting on his last nerve.

Draco raised an eyebrow and smirked. "No need for jealousy there Nott, I'll let you have whichever one you want once I'm through with her" he said condescendingly.

Blaise chuckled into his glass of pumpkin juice while Theo continued to glare at Draco. The three of them had been best friends since they were children, but sometimes they fought like siblings or got on each other's nerves. Today was a prime example. Draco was always a man slag, but he seemed to step it up over the summer and even since they arrived back at Hogwarts for their 'do-over year.' The ministry had encouraged the seventh years to return for an eighth year by not accepting anyone who didn't have a completed education. Mostly everyone had come back and an extra set of dorms were added to each house for the students.

The new dorms were slightly smaller than the regular ones, and only about three were put in each. Draco, Theo, and Blaise shared one and for once were glad to not have to share their living quarters with the other dunderheads in their year. However, much to Blaise and Theo's annoyance, Draco wasted no time in bringing his conquests to their shared living quarters and 'breaking the room in.' The night they arrived at the castle, Draco convinced a seventh year to skip out on the sorting ceremony and opening speech, then proceeded to shag her all over the room. After walking into that sight, Blaise and Theo knew this was going to be a long year and also learned to announce their presence well before they reached the dormitory. But that didn't stop the Slytherin Sex God from screwing girls other places where the two frequented. Already they'd seen him pull a sixth year into a broom closet, an eighth year into an abandoned classroom during break, and even saw him convince a fifth year to linger a little longer after divination class where had Blaise not shut the door and put up a silencing charm behind them, he was sure the entire castle would of heard the girl's moans.

"Like I want your sloppy seconds, you whore" Theo scoffed while munching on a piece of bacon. His mood was slowly improving. Bacon seemed to have that desired effect on anyone.

"At this rate, that's all we're gonna be able to get" Blaise muttered, although both of his roommates heard him. Draco's smirk only widened and the thought brought Theo's sour mood back.

"Whatsa' matter Blaise? No girl giving you a second look? Or maybe you've discovered you prefer blokes?" Draco taunted.

The Italian shot him a scathing look and huffed. "Please, I'm just as good as you in the sack, if not better. _Unlike_ you though, I can control my urges and don't act like a bitch in heat every five minutes." Theo busted out laughing and Blaise smirked as it was Draco's turn to scowl at the comeback.

"Trust me Blaise, you are nowhere near as good as me when it comes to fucking" the blonde informed him haughtily. "I am a God when it comes to sex, hence the nickname that I was bestowed with. My seduction skills are unattainable and no girl can resist" he finished shooting his friend a smug look.

He looked unwaveringly at Blaise, who merely raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you hear that Theo?" He said without breaking eye contact with Draco. "It seems like our little Drakie here is overestimating his abilities."

Theo snickered. "You know Blaise, I think he truly believes he's irresistible. Sounds like he needs to be knocked down a few pegs."

Draco turned his gaze onto Theo and said, "Oh I _know _I'm irresistible. Any girl, any time, any place, I can have her begging for me."

"Care to put your money where your mouth is?" Blaise challenged. If he knew Draco, he knew the blonde couldn't turn down the opportunity to prove he was as good as he thought he was. Technically, Draco set this one up and walked into it all by himself.

Draco scoffed. "What, has this year alone not been proof enough for you nit wits? Perhaps you need another demonstration in our room tonight. Give you something to wank off to" he said with a wink.

"Oh no, we're fully aware of the skanks you've been rolling around with" Theo said. "However, you did say that your skills could get any girl in the sack. That would include any girl of our choosing. What do you say to a little bet?"

Draco thought about it for a couple of seconds. "What are the stakes?" Even though he was confident in his abilities, he was still a Slytherin and didn't rush into anything head first. That's what bloody Gryffindorks were for.

Blaise and Theo pondered this for a moment. "Galleons?" Theo offered.

Draco shook his head. "Too easy. Besides it's not like I need them."

The three thought for a few more minutes until Blaise looked up and caught sight of a flash of red hair of one boy and a messy black mop of another. With an evil grin he turned to Draco and said, "I've got an idea. If you lose, you have to approach Potter and Weasley in front of the entire school and tell them you're gay and have been dreaming of a threesome with them since we were second years." Draco's face paled as Blaise's words sunk in, which was no easy feat considering how pale he already was. For a moment Blaise and Theo thought he would turn the bet down simply because of the horror that loomed over him with the prospect of losing.

To their surprise, Draco nodded and said, "Fine, I accept. It's not like I'll be losing anyway. And when I win, you two tossers have to approach Pothead and Weaselbee in front of the entire school, and profess your undying love." That wiped the smug grins off both Theo and Blaise's faces, but they agreed nonetheless. Just then, the bell rang signaling the end of breakfast and beginning of first classes.

Picking up his bag, Blaise turned to Draco and said "Tonight in our room, we'll let you know our choice and set up the rules."

Draco stood up with the grace and arrogance that only a Malfoy could carry and turned to his friend. "Whatever you say mate. Go ahead and find the lucky bird. Be prepared to woo your men tomorrow at breakfast." The three walked out of the Great Hall continuing their taunts and jeers, each with the same thought in their head. There was absolutely no way in hell they were going to lose this bet.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Finding a girl that would resist Draco was harder than it sounded. Blaise and Theo knew immediately that it couldn't be a Slytherin, seeing as those were only too eager. Hufflepuffs were nearly just as easy. The idiots had no brain power and Draco would have the bet in the bag within the hour. No, they had to plan this out perfectly. The stakes were too high for them to lose.

They decided to go with a Ravenclaw, seeing as those were generally the hardest girls for them to get. They were smart, but usually pretty clueless when it came to flirting and seduction. They'd be able to resist simply because they wouldn't know Draco was trying to bed them.

In potions, they thought they'd found the perfect girl. She was a short red haired sixth year who sat in the front so as not to miss any of the lecture. The girl was painfully shy to the point of not being able to look you in the eye if she wasn't comfortable with you. Theo pointed her out to Blaise who nodded. However, Draco came in just then, late as usual with his shirt untucked and reeking of sex. The only available seat was right next to said witch. He plopped down beside her and within no time, had her giggling like one of the airheads from his annoying fan club as he whispered seductively in her ear. He was able to get her to brew the potion completely for him getting top marks for the day as well as crossing the girl off Theo and Blaise's list.

In Care of Magical Creatures, again Blaise found one that he thought could deflate Draco's ego and win them the bet. She was a seventh year with short dirty blonde hair and incredibly tall. She was also a huge feminist and had many guys scared to approach her for fear of saying the wrong thing and her going off an a tangent about how 'females were empowered' and all that mess. Hagrid had the class split into pairs and tend to the newly hatched blast ended skrewts and try feeding them different things to see what they could and couldn't digest. Due to McGonagall's policy for trying to promote house unity, his only stipulation was that you had to pair with someone who wasn't from your house. Since none of the Slytherins wanted to be paired off with Gryffindors, they rushed to find Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Draco partnered with the tall girl and kept her completely distracted from their assignment with skilled touches, and sweet nothings whispered in her ear. Blaise groaned and immediately knew she was out, especially when Theo told him after class that he heard her accept Draco's invitation to meet him somewhere during break.

Theo and Blaise were walking back to their dormitory after finishing dinner and starting to seriously worry. They still hadn't found a girl who could resist Draco, and time was running out. Maybe their snarky blonde friend was right. Maybe there truly wasn't a girl within the castle that could resist his supposed charm.

The two began discussing ways in which maybe they could trick Draco into just forgetting about the bet all together when a classroom door opening caught their attention. McGonagall walked out first with the two heads and other prefects filing out of the classroom. The Headmistress had called a meeting before dinner to discuss the schedule and duties expected for the year. Draco came out near the end with his arm around a Hufflepuff prefect as she giggled at whatever he said and batted her eyes at him in what she thought was probably a seductive manner. He leaned against the wall and pulled her by her robes towards him, all the while her still laughing like a hyena.

Just then, another body emerged from the classroom. She had a wild mane of brown and honey colored curls cascading just past her shoulders and loose baggy robes. Her head was bent down, studying the patrol schedule she'd received in the meeting and was not paying attention to her surroundings. The Hufflepuff took a step back from Draco and accidentally bumped into the girl, causing her to lose her footing, drop her schedule and book bag, and barrel straight into Draco. Out of instinct, he caught her before the both of them tumbled to the ground.

The girl looked up and Draco realized just who he was holding as Theo and Blaise, who had gone unnoticed, were able to figure out her identity. It was the other one third of the golden trio, the one and only Hermione Granger.

Draco immediately shoved her away and she almost lost her footing again until she placed her hand on the wall to balance herself and shot a glare at him.

"Bloody hell, mudblood! Watch where you're going!" Draco spat at her.

Straightening herself back up she shot back, "Shut up ferret, it was an accident! Maybe if you weren't so disgusting, your date wouldn't have tried to get away from you and bumped into me."

He scoffed at her. "Disgusting? Please, don't act like you don't fantasize about me. Here you are practically throwing yourself into my arms. Sorry to break your heart, but I don't associate with the likes of you."

She gave him a scathing look that could have probably intimidated Snape. "Trust me Malfoy, you are the farthest thing from my fantasies. I would rather be in the arms of a manticore than yours, you slimy git!"

By now the Hufflepuff had lost interest and was making her way down the hall, but Draco only glared harder at Granger while fuming. "That nest that you call hair must be affecting your sight then, you clumsy bint! I just bought these robes Granger! Now I'm going to have to burn them since they're contaminated with your mudblood germs."

Granger only rolled her eyes at him and replied, "Yeah, and I'm probably going to have to go get checked by Madame Pomfrey. There's no telling what kind of STD I contracted just by touching you, you man slag." With that, she turned on her heel, quickly gathered up her things and strode off down the hall without a backwards glance. Draco's face turned up in a sneer at her as he watched her walk away for a few seconds, then turned and stormed off in the opposite direction.

Blaise and Theo slowly came out from behind the corner and gave each other a smirk. "Theo, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Blaise questioned in a sing song voice.

Theo's smirk widened. "Well Blaise, if your thinking we've just found our solution to our problem, then yes I am" he replied in the same tone.

**XOXOXOXOXO **

Blaise and Theo had been in their dormitory waiting for Draco to return for over an hour. Where the blonde had gone after his encounter with the muggleborn witch, neither of them knew, but they'd be willing to bet he went in search of another conquest. He was absolutely insatiable.

Finally he came through with his hair messed up, confirming their suspicions. Seeing his two friends look at him in irritation only caused a smug smile to appear on his face. "Waiting up for me now? Really you shouldn't have."

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Honestly mate, this is starting to get bloody ridiculous."

"Calm down Blaise. Just because you're not getting any, there's no need to lecture me. I can't help it that women find me simply irresistible. Didn't we already have this discussion" he asked while plopping down onto his bed.

"Speaking of which, we thought you might be interested in who we've chosen for our little bet" Theo commented.

Draco's smile never left his face. "So you idiots are still going through with this are you? I thought I had already proved my point today. So which is it? The shy redhead, or the tall feminist?" he drawled arrogantly.

Theo's eyes widened in surprise and Blaise gave him a shocked look. "How did you know we considered them?"

Draco merely laughed. "You two are about as subtle as a Weasley in an upper-class establishment. I saw you pointing and whispering at both girls in class like a couple of prepubescent third year girls. Didn't take a Ravenclaw to figure out what you were thinking." While they sat cursing themselves for their obviousness, Draco caught on to something Blaise said. "Wait, considered? As in you didn't choose one of them?"

Now it was his roommates' turn to smirk. "Oh no Draco, we've got someone better in mind" Theo said smugly.

Draco kept an indifferent look on his face to try and show his friends that it didn't matter to him. And it truly didn't make a difference either way. There was no way he could lose this bet. "Alright then, spit it out. I don't have all night."

Sharing a look between themselves briefly, Blaise finally turned to his companion and uttered two syllables. "Granger."

The room was deathly quiet for all of about five seconds before Draco bolted upright in his bed and glared at the dark skinned Slytherin. "You have got to be _fucking _kidding me!" he hissed.

"Oh no, we're completely serious" Blaise replied, fighting the urge to laugh at his friend as his eyes narrowed into tiny slits. "Whatsa matter Draco? You did say you could get any girl."

"Any _girl_! Granger isn't a girl! She's a-a-…She's a _mudblood!_ She's not even human!" Draco spluttered.

Theo rolled his eyes at his friend's dramatics. "Seriously mate, you're still holding to all that shit? Didn't we establish over the summer that we didn't care anymore? Besides, didn't you shag some muggleborn seventh year yesterday?" After the war, many of the Slytherins decided they just didn't care about blood status anymore. Many of them had seen terrible things done to those not of pureblood, including Draco, and didn't want to continue down that dark path.

"That was different!" Draco insisted while Blaise and Theo gave him are-you-serious looks. "But, b-b-but…_it's Granger_!" he tried again, hoping his friends would catch his meaning. No, he didn't believe in blood supremacy anymore but Granger had been the bane of his existence ever since he came to Hogwarts. With her bossy, swotty, condescending know-it-all attitude and ability to beat him in almost everything, his dislike for her had grown from the moment he met her. Truthfully, even if she was a pureblood, they'd probably still hate each other.

"Yeah, it's Granger" Blaise said, showing no sign that he was changing his mind. "You said any girl of our choosing, and we choose Granger. She's actually pretty good looking. You're lucky we didn't choose a cow."

Draco narrowed his eyes again at Blaise's compliment of the girl who'd bested him academically all throughout their school years. No, Granger wasn't terrible looking. But still, she was just…so…_Granger._

"Are you throwing in the towel already?" Theo taunted from his bed. "I guess even you're not stupid enough to think you could actually get her to sleep with you. Ha! The day that happens will be the day Looney Lovegood starts making sense! Well, I guess we better get some sleep. I want to be fully rested so I don't miss Drakie here exploiting his sexual desires to Pothead and Weasel and the rest of the school" he said, getting under his covers.

Remembering exactly what the stakes were, Draco made his decision. "Fine! I accept your challenge you bloody arseholes" he said while glaring at them both.

Theo and Blaise seemed surprised for a moment before Blaise finally nodded his head. "Okay. You have until the day before graduation to find a way to get into Granger's pants. And you have to have some type of proof, or maybe we'll steal some veritaserum from the potions closet. Good luck mate, you're gonna need it."

"I don't need luck. I'm a Malfoy. She'll be begging for it soon enough. They always do" Draco replied arrogantly. Truthfully, he had no idea how to go about this. How do you get someone you've tormented since the day you met to agree to sleep with you? As Blaise and Theo continued to taunt him about how hard it was going to be and the looming threat of what would happen if he lost, he knew this was going to be a long year.

**AN: So, what'd you think? Hope you liked it. It's currently 3:15, and I'm about to crash. But I've been working on this for two days and was determined to get it up tonight. I do apologize for any spelling and grammatical errors, but I'm simply too lazy to check right now. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling. I own nothing.**

This year was not quite going as Hermione had planned. After the hell of the year before spent hunting horcruxes and defeating the darkest wizard of all time, one would think merely being alive would be enough for the bright witch. However, because of the previous year, she had high expectations for how life was supposed to turn out and was sorely disappointed when none of these expectations were met. Call her crazy, but wasn't karma supposed to reward those who performed good acts?

Her first let down were things not working out with Ron. She'd been in love with him since about fifth year and was ecstatic when they decided to give their relationship a go after the final battle of Hogwarts. Things were great for all of about two weeks. The first week she'd stayed with the Weasley's at the burrow, enjoying the feeling of euphoria with them that the war was over and all of their family members made it out alive. The second week, Ron accompanied her to Australia where she was able to track down her mom and restore her memories after sending her in hiding to avoid death eater's seeking her out. After that, things started going downhill. They began bickering, like they always had, over the smallest things and getting on their friends and families' last nerve. Another thing was that Ron couldn't keep up with her on an intellectual level. Hermione knew she was much smarter than the average person, but Ron could be absolutely clueless at times and it frustrated her to no end.

It wasn't all on him though. Try as she might, she just couldn't take an interest in the things Ron liked. It seemed like all he talked about was food, his want to eventually follow Harry into auror training, and quidditch. She never took an interest in quidditch, and was annoyed that he only wanted to be an auror because that's what Harry was going to do. He was always a follower and had a hard time making decisions for himself. These weren't necessarily bad things; they were just a part of his character and what made Ron…well, _Ron._ Fearing that if they drug their relationship out any further they'd make things between them completely unsalvageable, they decided to amicably end things a week before term started.

It wasn't that Hermione was still in love with Ron that upset her over their failed relationship. It was the fact that it failed. Hermione Granger did not fail at anything she did. If she set her mind to do something, she succeeded at it. Also, Ron had been the typical option that everyone, herself included, had just expected to work out. She could put him in her future plans and feel like she had control over all aspects of her life. Hermione hated being uncertain about _anything_ and feeling like she didn't have control over something. It was one of her greatest flaws.

Molly had been pretty upset when they broke up, and still thought to this day that they were just going through a rough patch and would eventually get back together. About three days before they left for Hogwarts, Molly had continuously pulled Hermione aside and made up excuses for Ron, saying that she just knew he loved her but wasn't very good when it came to dating and that Hermione should give him another chance. She'd walked in on the Weasley matriarch giving similar talks to Ron, thinking that she was helping the young couple. Really she was only making things awkward for them, which was basically making it worse. She just couldn't see the blatantly obvious fact that Ron and her were just too incompatible to be anything more than friends. Molly had also been upset when things hadn't worked out between Harry and her youngest child, Ginny. Yet again, the couple only kept their farce of a relationship going because that's what everyone expected of them. Ginny ended things with Harry a lot sooner than Ron and Hermione because she had come to view Harry as more of a brother and found it too awkward to kiss or hold his hand. Harry seemed a little depressed over her decision, but Hermione strongly suspected it was for the same reason as her disappointments over Ron.

Another reason this year wasn't quite living up to her expectations was because she wasn't made head girl. McGonagall had decided to continue with the pattern of awarding the heads position to seventh years, feeling that it wouldn't be fair for the top students of that year to be skipped over. She knew she was being childish, but not attaining the position she'd coveted since she was a first year made Hermione bitter. Being Head Girl, in the most basic terms, meant that you were the best and for personal reasons, Hermione always felt like she had to be the best. She'd worked hard all throughout her schooling years for the honor of receiving that position and felt cheated out of her opportunity, though she understood and couldn't refute McGonagall's logic.

No matter how disappointing this year was turning out to be, she reasoned that there was nothing she could do about it and decided to carry on being top of her class and working hard. She had big plans to pursue a career as a healer and had to have excellent grades to even be accepted into the healer training program. The cost of getting into it was another matter entirely. The Wizarding World wasn't familiar with the concept of scholarships and didn't hand out free money at all. Since deciding on her chosen career in third year, she had been saving up nearly everything she ever made, knowing that her mother could only help her so much financially. She wasn't even halfway where she needed to be and had begrudgingly accepted the fact that she wouldn't be able to enter training school directly after graduating from Hogwarts like she wanted to. She'd probably have to start out with something in the ministry, until she had enough saved up to afford the tuition. She was probably looking at at least five years of a job that she knew she wouldn't be happy at, and then another four years just to get through the program and become certified before she could work for St. Mungos. Although not what she wanted, it was the only plan she had and she would do everything in her power to pursue her dream and be successful.

That's why she was currently sitting in the library working on an essay for charms class instead of enjoying her break like most of the other students. The essay wasn't due until sometime next week, but there was no room for procrastination in Hermione's eyes. Deep down, she longed to be outside enjoying the last few days of warm weather like her friends, but work always came before anything else. Besides, this was by far the most important year with NEWTS coming up, and she couldn't afford any distractions.

Speaking of distractions, she heard someone approach her table and plop down in the chair across from her. Thinking it was Harry or Ron come to ask for help on an assignment, she looked up to see none other than Hogwarts most notorious man whore. He propped his feet up on the table and had his usual air of arrogance about him as he gave her a broad smile. Hermione merely scowled in return.

"What do you want Ferret?" she snapped. She was in no mood to deal with him.

His smile faltered for a moment and his left cheek twitched at her insult, but he quickly got it back under control and chose to ignore her comment. "Now now Granger, there's no need for petty name-calling. I simply came to talk."

Hermione blinked at him. Talk? Since when did Draco Malfoy ever want to sit next to her and _talk?_ They loathed each other for Merlin's sake! They'd had one of the greatest rivalries that Hogwarts had probably ever seen. So why was he wanting to get chummy now?

"We have nothing to talk about, Malfoy. Besides, I'm busy. So kindly remove yourself from my sight and let me get back to work" she said flatly, looking back down at her essay.

Draco's features quickly turned down into a scowl. This was just one of the reasons on an extremely long list of why he hated Granger so. Here he was trying to be nice, and the swotty bint had to go and completely disregard his efforts. Did she not know how hard he was fighting not to sneer in her direction or call her a mudblood? She should feel honored that he was acknowledging her presence in such a way.

He didn't know if he could carry through with this. He'd come to the library with the sole intent of using his charms to seduce Granger and get this over with as fast as he could. But Circe was the witch making this difficult! For a brief moment he wondered about simply throwing all caution to the wind and forfetting this bet. Then he remembered what he'd have to do and quickly pushed that thought far away from his mind. Pride and reputation were two of the most important things to a Slytherin, and even more so for a Malfoy.

Knowing that he'd have to step his game up, he cleared his throat and tried again. "Come on Granger, don't be that way." She made no indication that she'd heard him and continued writing. This seriously annoyed him. He'd never in his life been ignored, and the fact that it was the mudblood doing it only added to his ire. Going completely out of his comfort zone, he sighed internally and got up out of his chair.

Hermione had thought that he had finally given up and was leaving, but was shocked when he pulled out the chair beside her and sat down. Even more shocking was that he angled his body toward her and adjusted himself so that his knee was brushing up against hers. She completely froze up not believing what was happening, and Draco took this opportunity to pull her quill from her hand. He brushed the feather against her cheek and leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"Granger" he purred as her brain was short circuiting. "I've seen the way you look at me. It's only natural to be attracted to such a fine specimen as myself. If you wanted to be with me, all you had to do was say so. Why don't we get out of here and head for the shrieking shack? We can indulge in some shrieking of our own, if you know what I mean" he whispered huskily. He was fighting the urge to snicker. These cheesy pick up lines worked on all the other girls and never ceased to get him a quick and easy shag. Any second now, Granger would be reduced to a giggling, quivering mess and he'd be able to rub it in Blaise and Theo's faces as well as getting bragging rights to have gotten in the bookworm prude's knickers…

Then something happened that had never happened to Draco before. So surprised was he, that he had no idea how to react. Granger started chuckling. Not giggling flirtatiously, but chuckling. It didn't stop there. In the blink of an eye, her chuckling turned into full blown laughing. Soon she was laughing so hard, actual tears were forming in the corners of her eyes. Draco stared dumbfounded as did a few other students who were occupying the library. Madame Pince shot a hard look in their direction seeing as Granger was disrupting the silent peace, but the young witch either didn't see or paid the old hag no mind.

After a minute, Granger finally calmed down and wiped the moisture from her eyes. "God, Malfoy that was hilarious! I never knew you had such a sense of humor! You were actually flirting with me. _You _were _flirting_ with _me!_ You really had me going for a moment there, thinking you thought brushing up against me and dropping those sleazy lines was really going to work." She stood up from her chair, gathered up her things, and grabbed her quill from a still shell shocked Malfoy's hand. Still smiling to herself, she looked down at the blonde and said, "I should really thank you Malfoy. I really needed a good laugh." With that she turned on her heel, and made her way out of the library towards the Gryffindor common room.

Draco stared after her for nearly a minute and a half, his thoughts a jumbled mess. He was completely baffled. He had used some of his best techniques on her and she had _laughed_ at him. None of this was making any sense! When he was finally able to pick his jaw up off the ground and shake himself out of his momentary stupor, one thought ran through his head. What the hell just happened?

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Draco angrily stomped down the hall and into the Slytherin common room. A few third years and under were occupying the couches and loveseats, but one look at the brooding eighth year had them scrambling to get out of his line of sight lest he take his bad mood out on them. He collapsed heavily into an arm chair and glared into the fireplace.

The stupid bloody mudblood! Why the hell did she have to be so infuriating? Could she not see the effort he had been making? He had gone a full three days without calling her mudblood or any insulting name, and once even threw a wink in her direction, though he wasn't sure if she caught it as she had been looking up in concentration trying to figure out the answer to a question. Did she know how hard that was for him? Granted he had upped the insults hurled at Scarhead and the ginger wonder. He couldn't help that. If he had to cut back insulting one of the annoying golden trio, he had to get some form of compensation by upping the taunts thrown at the other two.

He ran a hand through his silky platinum hair and sighed. He knew this was going to be hard, but he didn't think it would be downright impossible. He'd thought surely, deep deep _deep_ down that Granger was just like all the other girls and secretly yearned for the Slytherin Prince's affections. Maybe he was sorely mistaken. No, it couldn't be that. He was a Malfoy, and the self acclaimed sexiest bloke to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts. No girl was unaffected by him, nor could they resist. Yet Granger apparently had…

"Keep your face screwed up like that and it'll get stuck" said Theo coming over to him and plopping down on the couch, with his arm around Daphne Greengrass. She was a pretty levelheaded female Slytherin and good friends with the boys. Blaise followed and sat on the arm with his feet propped up on the end table. "What's got you in such a foul mood?" the dark haired boy questioned.

Draco shot his oldest friends a glare to show his annoyance at them interrupting his solitude. It was technically their faults that he was in this mood. Had it not been for their stupid bet and them coercing him into sacrificing his pride on the line should he lose, he wouldn't be in this mess.

"Let me guess, you got dissed by Granger" Theo smugly offered. Draco only glared harder, confirming the answer to the boy's question. "I knew he couldn't do it Blaise. Wish I'd been there to see what she did. No doubt it wounded the poor baby's ego."

Daphne looked at all three boys in confusion. "Why would he care about being dissed by Granger? Don't you guys hate each other?"

"Hate is too small a word" Draco growled. "I loathe her! The stupid, bossy, annoying know-it-all bitch." He began muttering other obscenities under his breath as he turned his attention back to the fireplace.

Blaise smirked as Theo filled Daphne in on the bet they had made. When he finished, Daphne looked at all three of them with her eyebrows raised. "Don't you think that's a little harsh?"

Draco looked over at her with his own eyebrows raised. "What do you care about the mudblood, Daph?"

"Well, it's not like we're friends or anything" she stated. "But still, Granger's not that bad. She doesn't really bother any of us unless we bother her first and she mostly sticks to studying and getting as much extra credit as possible. Of all the girls to bet on, you had to pick probably the most innocent. I just don't think you should play with her emotions like this. Taunts and name calling are one thing, but this is a whole new level of cruel."

Draco rolled his eyes. Bloody women always sticking together because of their feelings and all that mess. This was why Draco didn't ever ask them out. They got too involved with their stupid emotions and made the whole situation too uncomfortable for him. He wasn't the commitment type and didn't want to 'talk and open up to each other.' Shagging with no strings attached was much more enjoyable. Besides, it's not like any of the girls wanted to date him for the right reasons. They were all after one or possibly all three things; his money, his name, or his sexy body.

"Ah, but don't you see Daphne? That's the whole point" Blaise informed her. "Granger is far too innocent and has too much bad history with Draco. There's absolutely no way she'll ever sleep with him, not in this life at least. So there's no need to worry. She won't get crushed, and we won't lose the bet" he said confidently.

Draco scowled and turned to Blaise with a retort on the tip of his tongue, when a god-awful shrieking noise stopped him.

"DRAAAAAAAKKKKKKIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!"

All three boys simultaneously groaned, and even Daphne had a grimace on her face. Pansy Parkinson came bouncing over to where they were and practically threw herself onto Draco's lap. Of all the girls in Slytherin-no scratch that- the entire school, Pansy was the most annoying of Draco's fan club. After the Yule Ball in fourth year Draco, who had been drunk from having drank the spiked punch, took Pansy back to his room where they lost their virginities to each other. That had been his first mistake because since then she thought she was special in his eyes and began telling everyone that she was his girlfriend. It also didn't help that he sought her out when he needed a quick shag without wanting to put in the work to seduce another girl. He thought that he'd made it clear that it was nothing but sex to him, but Pansy was either deaf, dumb or both. Probably the latter. He'd quit sleeping with her last year, but she still couldn't seem to take the hint and was practically stalking him.

Rubbing herself against him in what she thought was a sexy manner, she rubbed his chest and said, "Oh Drakie, I've been looking everywhere for you! Have you been hiding?" she asked batting her eyelashes.

"Obviously you barmy pillock" he grit out through clenched teeth as he gave her a rough shove in the hopes of throwing her off his lap.

She lost her balance for a split second, but managed to wrap her arms around him in a vice like grip and resituated herself across his lap. She let out a high pitched laugh that nearly busted his ear drums. "You're so funny! And sexy" she said as her hands started trailing down lower towards his crotch area. Blaise and Theo snickered and Daphne tried to cover up a smile behind her hand. None of them really liked Pansy, but that didn't mean they didn't enjoy watching the crazy witch make a fool of herself and driving Draco crazy. "Why don't we go up to your room and get more comfortable? It's been ages since we last shagged! Want me to make you feel good, Drakie?" Her hand was practically right on top of his cock, but he was too annoyed and disgusted for it to have any effect on him.

Grabbing her by her wrists, he stared hard into her eyes with a menacing look and said harshly, "Pansy, for the last time, get it through your ugly head that I don't want you. And get the bloody hell off me!" He roughly shoved her again, and this time he succeeded in getting her off him as she tumbled to the floor in a heap. Blaise, Daphne, and Theo couldn't hide their amusement any longer and laughed openly at the girl sprawled out on the floor beneath them. She glared at them before picking herself up and turning back to Draco. "Deny it all you want, but I know you want me too. When you decide to quit playing games, let me know." With that she stomped off towards her room like a spoiled child who'd just been denied a toy.

Draco sneered at his friends as they laughed even harder at Pansy's declaration and went over a few plot ideas in his head of how to get away with murdering them in their sleep. Finally, after what felt like forever, they calmed down. Theo stood up with a smile still plastered to his face as he looked down at Draco. "Wow mate, you never cease to entertain me. That was freaking hilarious!"

"Shut up you tosser" the blonde snarled.

Theo shrugged his shoulders good naturedly and began walking towards the portrait hole with Blaise. "We're off to do a few laps on the quidditch field. We were only coming by to check on your progress anyway, although that show was an exciting bonus! Coming Daphne?" he asked looking over at her.

"Be there in a second" Daphne called out as she scooted over on the couch to get closer to Draco.

"All you women are mental, you know that" Draco asked throwing his hands up and looking over at what he would consider his only female friend.

"Yeah, and you men are such a picnic" she scoffed rolling her eyes. "Careful what you say about your future wife."

"That daft cow will be no such thing!" he said sounding horrified. Under no circumstances would he ever end up tied to Pansy for the rest of his life.

Cracking a smile, Daphne said "I thought you would have liked all this attention that Pansy's giving you. Despite all the guys she's slept with, she only basks you in her affections."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. Was she serious? "Don't you get it? I don't want her bloody affections! She screws anything with a dick, then comes up to me just assuming I want her when I couldn't be more disgusted. Can't she see how much I can't stand her?"

"Didn't you do the same thing with Granger?" Daphne asked. He looked at her ready to deny her accusations, then closed his mouth and thought about what she said. If he was being completely honest, he did exactly that. He and Daphne may not have been friends for as long as him, Blaise, and Theo, but they had been friends for years and by now she could predict his behavior precisely. As he put more thought into what she said, he realized something. He was to Granger exactly what Pansy was to him. Well when you put it like that, no wonder she laughed at his attempts of seducing her.

Knowing he was incredibly frustrated she softened her facial features and said, "So about this bet-"

"Daph, for the love of Merlin, don't lecture me!" he cried out. "It's pretty much like Blaise said, so can we not get into this?"

"Well, I was simply going to give you some advice, you idiot" she huffed, crossing her arms. Draco gave her a surprised look, but then nodded for her to continue. If this could get him out of telling Scarhead and Weasel he wanted to do them, he would take all the help he could get.

"Obviously Granger's different than all the other girls you usually sleep with, so crude innuendos and your usual flirting won't work on her" Daphne started. This wasn't news to Draco, but he knew she had more to say so he let her continue. "What you need to do is get her to see you in a different light than the boy who tormented her all throughout her school years. By doing that, you have to find a way to spend more time with her and show her that you're genuinely interested in her."

"But I'm not. Seriously, I can't stand Granger. I just want to shag her so I can shove it in Potter and Weasley's faces and get Blaise and Theo off my back." He replied.

Daphne sighed and rolled her eyes. "I know that you twit! But Granger doesn't! And if you want to win this, I suggest you convince her of what I said." Seeing him grasp her meaning she patted his arm, stood up and walked out of the portrait hole so he could begin to formulate a plan.

As soon as the portrait hole closed behind her and she stepped into the hall, she noticed Blaise and Theo waiting for her and giving her confused looks. "What?" she asked.

Blaise cleared his throat. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but did we hear you giving Draco advice on how to win this bet? After you told us how cruel you thought it was?"

Smirking, she replied "No, you heard correctly" and began walking down the corrider. Blaise and Theo caught up on either side of her and continued with their puzzling looks. "I don't get it" Theo said after a moment of silence. "If you think it's so wrong, why are you helping him try to sleep with Granger?"

"I'm not" she said without breaking stride. "I'm trying to help him win her affections." When the two showed no signs of catching onto what she meant, she sighed. Boys could be so thick sometimes. "Look, like I said, Granger isn't so bad. And despite what he says, Draco doesn't hate her nearly as much as he thinks he does. I think she would be really good for him if he could get his head out of his arse long enough to see it." In a sense, this was Daphne's way of repaying Draco. She shuddered as she remembered what all the blonde had to do last year during the war and the lengths he went to to protect not only himself and his family, but his friends as well, herself included. She knew most people saw him as a heartless bastard, and he was in a lot of ways. But they also didn't know the baggage he carried. Not a lot of people would understand, but Daphne just knew someone like Granger would.

**AN: I actually had to look up Harry Potter pick up lines. Ah, I'm a dork I know! Thanks for all of your reviews, and hope you liked this chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: Anything Harry Potter related that you recognize, I don't own.**

The day had started out so promising for Hermione.

She woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start the day in a happy mood. She was caught up on all assignments and ahead of everyone else by at least three weeks. When she took her seat at breakfast, she smiled at Harry and Ron and fell into easy conversation with them. Things had been a little awkward between them with all of the relationship drama during the summer, and they had begun hanging out with different people. Nevertheless, they still remained close and laughed and joked like old times. They even made plans to go to Hogsmeade together the next weekend.

She entered potions, the first class of the day, in a chipper mood and took her seat. Setting up all of her supplies in an orderly manner, she folded her hands in her lap and waited for class to begin, thinking that maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all. That is until a tall blonde Slytherin took the empty seat beside her.

Her initial shock at him taking the seat next to her quickly morphed into anger as she regarded him with narrowed eyes. "What do you think you're doing Malfoy?" she hissed at him.

Turning towards her, he let his usual smirk take over his features and answered, "Why Granger, I thought it was obvious. I'm sitting here patiently waiting for class to start."

She bristled at his laid back response. Never in all of their schooling years together had they ever sat beside each other. Usually they tried to stay on the opposite sides of the room. "That's not what I meant and you know it" she huffed. "You can't sit here!"

Raising a platinum eyebrow he calmly said, "Why ever not Granger? Saving the seat for someone else were you?"

"Yes" she answered too quickly.

"For whom" he continued in that calm, laid back tone.

"Not you!" she spat getting incredibly flustered.

His smirk never faltered, nor did his smug expression change. "Well Granger, as hurt as I am by your obvious want to get rid of me, I'm afraid I won't be moving anytime soon. I'm merely following the rules you see."

"Rules?" she asked, furrowing her brows. "What are you talking about? There's no rule saying you have to sit by me."

Before he could reply, Slughorn walked in and addressed the class. "Good morning all! It has been brought to my attention that more needs to be done to promote house unity, considering all the animosity that still exists. Therefore, I have decided to arrange a little seating chart." As he was speaking, a piece of chalk floated up and began writing names of students from one house and pairing them up with students from another. "Let's rearrange ourselves quickly now" he continued as the students began grumbling and gathering their things. "Oh, do stop that now! The whole purpose of this is for you to get to know your partners better and realize you're not so different from each other. And remember, these will be your official seats and partners for the rest of the year!"

Hermione's jaw dropped when Slughorn said the last part and she looked in horror at the board showing her name next to Malfoy's. This couldn't be happening! She just couldn't be Malfoy's partner for the rest of the year!

"You did this" she choked out in a hoarse whisper turning to the blonde. "You made this happen! How else could you have known we would be put together?"

"Now Granger, how ever would I have been able to pull this off?" Draco asked innocently. "It's no secret that the professors have been shoving this house unity shite down our throats since we came back. As for how I knew we'd be partnered together, I merely overheard Slughorn discussing his seating chart with professor Binns this morning on the way to breakfast."

She was right of course. He was behind this in a discreet way. when trying to figure out how he was going to spend more time with her, he'd thought back to the day in Hagrid's class when he'd partnered with the Ravenclaw girl. Remembering how McGonagall was trying to get the houses to come together, an idea came to him and he realized exactly how he was going to coerce Granger into spending time with him, against her will of course. He approached McGonagall and reported several cases of students fighting with students from opposing houses. He laid it on thick for the old hag as he feigned impatience with the situation and called it 'childish and immature' as well as saying 'war should have taken care of all of this fighting.' He knew this was McGonagall's ultimate goal to achieve as Head Mistress and that she would become stricter with house unity stipulations. Just as he predicted, she called a meeting with the teaching staff and demanded they partner students together from opposing houses. After all, he'd been the one to subtly plant the idea in her head. He'd also found a discreet way to make sure he and Granger would always be paired together. Bloody Gryffindors were just too easy to manipulate, no matter how old, and oh so predictable.

Hermione spluttered at a loss for words. She knew he had something to do with this, but had no way of proving it. Realizing that like the Head Girl situation there was nothing she could do about this, she calmed down and proceeded to begin brewing their potion once Slughorn gave the directions. However, just because there was nothing she could do about it, didn't mean that she would try to become friendly or 'get to know Malfoy' as the professor had suggested. She chose to ignore him and completely took over their potion herself as though he wasn't there. Yet again, her failure to acknowledge his presence greatly annoyed him, but he refrained from insulting her. Instead, he chose to try and reason with her.

"Come now Granger, isn't this a little childish?" he asked when she chose to crush up her own lace wing flies instead of taking the ones he'd already crushed. "We're partners for the year. Plus we're supposed to be getting to know each other. You can't keep ignoring me."

"Sure I can" she answered without sparing him a glance. "It's only one class. Adfter this I won't have to be anywhere near you for the rest of the day."

Rather than retorting, his smirk only grew as he dropped some cut up roots in the cauldron. That's what she thought huh? Silly Gryffindor should have known that he wasn't going to give up so easily. And as for not having to be near him for the rest of the day, well Granger was in for a rude awakening…

**XOXOXOXOXO**

She couldn't have been more wrong. All of the professors had instilled a seating chart that the students had to adhere to. The seating chart wasn't what had her so put out. It was her constant partner. At least everyone else had a different partner each class, but not her. she wouldn't have minded working with Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws at all. Even with some Slytherins wouldn't have been so bad seeing as she could just do the assignment for them and avoid conversing. However, luck was not on her side because in every single class she was partnered with the Slytherin Prince himself. Arguing with the professors was futile because no matter how much she begged and pleaded, they refused to change it. Some even told her that McGonagall had specifically requested they place her and Malfoy togerher as well as a few other select people. It made no sense! No matter how hard she racked her brain, she could not think of a reasonable explanation as to why her favorite teacher would insist on putting her with her arch nemesis.

Ignoring him wasn't working either. She knew being ignored was a big pet peeve of his. The spoiled brat absolutely loathed being denied attention of any kind. She felt incredibly elated at first that she'd found a wat to get under his skin as he always did to her, but the prat quickly turned the tables.

In ancient runes, she completed the assignment for them, but when the teacher called on them for an answer, Malfoy purposely gave a wrong one before she even had time to open her mouth. This made the both of them look dumb, seeing how this particular assignment had been relatively easy, and caused them to get low marks for the day. He didn't seem to care, but Hermione was mortified. She and bad grades did not mix and she couldn't afford to screw this year up.

In transfiguration, they were supposed to simply turn a chair into a table. Instead, Malfoy turned theirs into a luxurious looking bed. Hermione glared furiously at him while the professor and other students looked on in confusion that the two smartest students in their year had messed up something so easy. Malfoy only smirked condescendingly down at her. "You know Granger, if you don't want to talk, we could get to know each other in a much more…_pleasurable_ way" he said huskily nodding towards the bed, and waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Hermione gasped as the meaning of his words sunk in, and turned away blushing furiously and muttering insults under her breath.

She finally got a break from him at lunch and sat across from Harry and Ron. Harry had had fairly decent partners so far, but Ron had been paired with some buffoons such as Goyle, and a few clueless Hufflepuffs. She was pleased that she wasn't the only one having such a hard time with these new rules, but both boys agreed she definitely had it worse.

"I just don't understand why you keep getting paired up with him" Harry commented. "I've yet to get the same partner twice, but the teachers adamantly refuse to put you with anyone else. I wonder why."

"I wish I knew Harry" she sighed. "However, I did see that Anthony Goldstein was partnered with Susan Bones in potions this morning and then again in Transfiguration. I assume they've been partnered in all of their classes together. So far I haven't noticed that with anyone else though. I just can't understand why McGonagall would specify to put me with Malfoy."

"The old bat's finally lost her marbles" Ron said through a mouthful of chicken, spraying chewed food out. "'S only explanation" he continued.

Hermione glared at him. "Do NOT talk about her that way, Ronald! McGonagall is very wise and I'm sure there must be a reason behind her decision. And for heaven's sake, chew with your mouth closed!"

Harry snickered while Ron scowled. Truth be told, he never really thought his two best friends would work out. They just didn't work well together. They were definitely much better off as friends. He realized the same thing with him and Ginny and truly wasn't broken up about it. In fact, it was kind of nice to have other girls chase after him and enjoy the attention rather than feeling guilty about his girlfriend's feelings.

Before they could speculate anymore about whether or not McGonagall's sanity was still intact, the post arrived delivering letters and packages to the students. Pig, the Weasley owl, dropped a letter in front of Hermione before crashing into Ron's pumpkin juice and spilling it all over him. Ron cursed and jumped up while the rest of the table laughed. Hermione instantly recognized the handwriting belonging to Mrs. Weasley. Curious as to why she was solely addressing her, she opened the letter and began to read.

_Dear Hermione,_

_How have you been darling? Enjoying your do over year? I do hope you are staying on top of both Harry and Ron and keeping them out of trouble. Speaking of which, have you and Ron made up yet? Surely you've gotten over your petty disagreement by now. You have to understand that it's not Ron's fault that he simply says whatever comes to mind. Such a meaningless flaw should be easily overlooked. Relationships are all about compromises, and sometimes you have to be the bigger person and apologize first. You can't be right all of the time, and it's very important for the man to feel in charge of the relationship. Just tell Ron you were wrong and I know he'll take you back and all will be forgiven. Stay ahead in your studies and help the boys keep up._

_ With love,_

_ Molly_

After finishing the letter, Hermione was absolutely furious. Molly thought their relationship not working was all her fault. Was she serious? Sure, she could have put more of an effort into it, but Ron did his fair share of wrongs too! And what was all that mess about how important it was for a man to feel in charge? The only person who was and would ever be in charge of Hermione Granger was Hermione Granger!

"Oi Mione! What did mum want" Ron asked after he dried Pig off and sent him on his way.

"Nothing" she answered in a flat tone. She quickly stood up and angrily shoved the letter in her pocket. Later she would slowly disintegrate it, but for now she was to mad to think straight.

Hermione's foul mood remained for the rest of the day. She was so wrapped up in her anger that she was unaware of what was going on around her. She ignored Malfoy more efficiently now, not out of spite, but simply because her mind was elsewhere. Draco noticed how her mood had changed from annoyed to fuming and he stopped doing things to purposely get on her nerves and make her snap at him. Clearly something had enraged her and he wasn't in the mood to get punched or hexed. Besides, he still had phase two of his plan to put in motion tonight. If she thought they were done, she was sorely mistaken.

After classes, Hermione headed to the library to study and just unwind. This was her safe haven and way of de-stressing instead of taking a hot bath or going for a walk like others. By dinnertime, she'd calmed down and walked off to the Great Hall with Ginny. Although not as close as her, Harry, and Ron, Ginny was her only girl friend and she was able to talk about things with her that she wouldn't dream of discussing with Harry and Ron. Hermione told her about the letter, and Ginny was completely on her side. She told her that she'd received a similar letter from Molly telling her to work things out with Harry, and that Hermione should just ignore it. She also said that even though Molly was wrong, she was truly only looking out for the best for her children and doing what she thought was right. Hermione understood that she was just a mother who wanted to fix things for her children, but that still didn't make her any less agitated with the Weasley matriarch. She wished the older woman would just butt out.

Dinnertime consisted of conversing with her friends and sharing laughs about some of the things that had happened today. Seamus Finnegan had gotten partnered with Millicent Bulstrode in his potions period and accidentally set her robes on fire. He had the entire table clutching their stomachs in laughter as he imitated her horrified shrieks and how he'd shot a jet spray of water at her trying to get it out.

"At least someone's having a good time with this partner situation" Hermione said to Ginny as she got her laughter under control. "This is so ridiculous! Why do the professors insist on torturing us like this? It's not like any of us are enjoying it."

Ginny looked at Hermione a little sheepishly. "Actually, I don't think it's that bad."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at her. "What? You mean this isn't bothering you at all?"

"Well, it did at first" Ginny said taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. "But today in Herbology I got partnered with someone who was actually quite charming and cute. And really funny. He actually made the class more entertaining. I'm kinda looking forward to going next time, which believe me I never would have thought that possible."

Hermione looked at Ginny curiously, recognizing that look all to well. It was one Ginny got whenever she had a crush. She'd had that look for Harry for a couple of years to his unawareness. "Which house is he from."

Ginny looked down at her food. "Slytherin" she mumbled just loud enough for only Hermione to hear.

"Who is it?" Hermione asked, lowering her tone like the other girl had.

With a sigh, Ginny slowly raised her eyes to meet Hermione's, and stated "Blaise Zabini."

At first Hermione was shocked. She knew of Blaise Zabini, but she'd never really known him. The only thing she did know about him was that he was good friends with Malfoy and Theodore Nott. He was also pretty quiet. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember a single time when he had ever insulted her or her friends. He mostly stuck with his group of people. Maybe he was one of the more level headed Slytherins, if there was such a thing. Looking down at Ginny, she noticed the red haired witch was watching her cautiously, awaiting her reaction.

"Well…if he was civil to you and you enjoy being in his company…then I guess I'm glad for you" Hermione stated slowly. "But Ginny, Blaise is also known as a player, so please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt."

Ginny breathed out a relieved sigh. "Oh Hermione, I just knew you'd understand" she said giving the older girl a quick hug. "Don't worry, we just harmlessly flirted today, nothing serious. And please don't mention anything to Harry or Ron. I don't know how Harry would take me talking to someone else, and you know how Ron can get" Ginny added looking at her seriously.

"Don't worry, I won't" Hermione said standing up. "I have to go finish writing an essay, and then I have to meet Mandy Brocklehurst tonight. We're patrolling tonight. I'll catch you all later" she said waving at the Gryffindor group and hurrying up to the common room.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

She was hurrying down the stairs trying to make it to the Great Hall as fast as she could, where both girls had agreed to meet each other tonight for patrol. She had completely lost track of time and when she looked up at the clock, she'd noticed that she was already five minutes late. Mandy was a kind Ravenclaw and would be understanding, but Hermione hated being late.

As she finally made it to the front of the hall, she noticed that Mandy was nowhere in sight. That was odd. She knew she was late, but not by that much. Maybe Mandy had already started patrol without her? Maybe she could catch up with her if she took one of the secret passageways behind a tapestry…

"You're late Granger. Not setting a very good example as a prefect now are you?" said a voice behind her, causing her to jump. She turned around to see Malfoy leaning against the wall with his leg propped up and arms folded, watching her with that infuriating smirk. She groaned. Did fate have it out for her or something? Wasn't it bad enough that she'd spent nearly all day with the sodding prick?

"Well, let's go Granger. We shouldn't waste anymore time" he said standing up to his full height and making his way towards her.

She furrowed her brows at him. "What are you talking about? My patrol partner is Mandy Brocklehurst. Why are you here?"

He walked right up to her and leaned down close to her face. A little to close for her comfort, as she could smell his cologne and another scent that she would later come to identify as purely Malfoy. "Mandy and I have switched partners." He stated. "My patrol schedule interfered with my quidditch practice and Mandy agreed to help a fellow student out. So here we are."

No. This couldn't be happening. Not again! Was this day from hell ever going to end? She was partnered with Malfoy. _Again!_ She took a step back and glared at him. "Why didn't Mandy say anything to me about it?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Don't know, don't care." Truthfully, he'd asked her not to say anything to Granger seeing as she might try and switch before he could put his plan into motion. It wasn't hard to convince the Ravenclaw. He'd gotten her up against the wall in a broom closet and persuaded her into switching partners with him for the duration of the year, but not say anything to Granger. She'd agreed without any protest if her screams of 'yes, yes, oh Malfoy, YES!' were anything to go by. He smirked at that particular memory. He loved screamers.

Hermione raise her eyebrows at him and gasped when she realized he was completely serious. "No, there's no way we're going to be patrol partners for the rest of the year! I refuse! It's bad enough we're partnered in every class, but this I will not concede to-"

"Granger" Draco interrupted her rant. "Haven't you figured out why you and I were always paired together? It was McGonagall's request that the prefects be partnered together with their patrol partners, since we were already put with someone from different houses. We're supposed to be the leaders and set the example for our classmates and all that croc" he said sarcastically. "There's no way to change it now, so you may as well go along with it. Unless of course you'd like to give up being prefect" he shot raising his eyebrows at her. He knew just which buttons to push and that there was no way in hell Granger would give up her prefect position despite the fact that it meant working with him.

Knowing that he'd gotten her with his last remark, she huffed and began to walk down the corridor, not even bothering to check and see if he was following her. He inwardly cheered at his small victory, and fell into step beside her. Throughout their patrol he tried to get her to talk, but she was still trying to ignore him. Getting fed up with her lack of response he began to insult her friends. He knew he'd touched a nerve when she whipped her wand out on him and shouted about how immature he was and that she'd never met a bigger prick in her life. An hour after they began patrol, she stormed off towards her common room without a backwards glance at him.

He walked back towards the Slytherin dungeons, not quite in as bad a mood as her, but still not entirely pleased at her attempts of ignoring him. The sooner the bossy little swot would start talking to him without hurtling insults, the sooner he could sleep with her and get this bet business over with. Once he reached his common room, he noticed that it was completely deserted except for Blaise, Theo, and Daphne who were sitting around the fireplace working on their Transfiguration homework.

"So lover boy, how'd it go?" Blaise asked looking up at him.

"Could have been better" he grumbled.

Theo shot a glare at the blonde. "I was hoping she would have hexed you or at least punched you in the face again. Thanks to you and your stupid idea of wooing her, we all have to suffer! I got partnered with that Brown chit from Gryffindor today in Divination. Do you know how annoying that bitch is? Her incessant chatter gave me a migraine two minutes into the bloody class!"

Draco smirked at his friend's annoyance. "Just remember, you're equally to blame. You gave me the challenge, I'm just using whatever means necessary to win it."

Theo scoffed. "Whatever, it's not like you're gonna win anyway. Granger still can't stand you, and you've only managed to make her hate you more by forcing her to spend all this time with you. Great plan you've got there Drakie" he added mockingly.

Draco scowled and turned on his heels. "Just you wait, Theo. I'll get into Granger's knickers before you know it, and thoroughly enjoy you and Blaise looking stupid in front of everyone when you tell Scarhead and Weasel your true feelings" he said stomping up the stairs to their shared dormitory.

When they heard the door slam, Blaise turned to the both of them. "Well, that went well. Judging by his mood, I reckon he and Granger got into another argument tonight."

"Daph, are you absolutely certain Draco doesn't hate her?" Theo questioned her again. "I just don't see it."

"Yes, I'm positive" Daphne said without looking up. "It's only a matter of time before he realizes it too."

"But anytime he's with her, he comes back in such a nasty mood" Blaise countered.

Daphne finished the sentence she was writing, then looked up at the both of them. "He's in a foul mood because she's ignoring him."

"Well, he's always hated being ignored-"Theo began, but Daphne cut him off.

"Yes, but he's always gone to someone who would give him the attention, and he's never had to put in this much effort with a girl" she said. "He's always loved a challenge though, and now it's become about more than just the bet. He's going to find a way to simply get her to talk to him without worrying about sleeping with her. Think about it. Lots of Gryffindors ignore him, but it doesn't usually bother him. Why does he get so flustered when she does though? And I merely suggested he spend more time with her. Don't you think this plan of his has gone above and beyond that? He's taking up the majority of her day. She intrigues him and keeps him on his toes. When he thinks he's done enough to charm her, she throws him off when she doesn't fall for his tricks. Give it time, and you'll see what I mean."

The boys continued to have their doubts about her words, but chose to take her advice and see how this played out. It would be entertaining if nothing else.

**AN: Yeah, I don't particularly like this chapter, but it's a filler chapter and it had to be done. So I want your guys input on something. Draco and Hermione are the main couple and focus of this story, but I was also planning to eventually put Blaise and Ginny together and maybe Ron and Lavender. But I also began to think about Harry and who he should get with. I thought about maybe putting him with Daphne, but then I also kind of thought about Luna. Whichever one he gets with, I'll probably put the other with Theo. So the decision is up to you! Harry and Daphne, or Harry and Luna? Let me know!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter Universe. Anything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling.**

**AN: You guys seriously thank you so much for your reviews and input! It really means a lot and I'm so glad a lot of you are enjoying this story! I've gotten a lot of responses on both couples, but so far Harry and Daphne seem to be winning. I'll leave the decision undecided for a little bit longer in case anyone else wants to give their opinion, but by next chapter I plan to have a definite pairing. But remember, the focus will be Draco and Hermione, so there won't be a lot of romance scenes between the other couples.**

Draco glared down furiously at the letter in front of him. It was the weekly letter his mother sent along with some treats. He and his mother were close and usually she sent just a standard note each week asking how school was going, encouraging him not to slack off, and reminding him that she loved him very much. Despite what most people thought, Narcissa Malfoy was very much capable of love, but pure blooded upbringing taught her to never show such an emotion in public.

This particular letter that she sent came bearing news. In about a week's time, Lucius Malfoy would be coming home after only serving four months of his ten year sentence. He would of course be placed on probation, but for all practical purposes, Lucius was a free man.

Draco snarled as he read over the letter again. His mother had explained that his father had gotten a reduced sentence for giving information to the ministry about where to find rogue death eaters and those who secretly aided the Dark Lord. Just by knowing his family, Draco was able to infer that his parents must have also bribed the right people with a large amount of money. It was how his father had avoided Azkaban the first time back in Draco's fifth year. He wished he gone then so that he wouldn't have been there to make Draco do the things he'd done last year. Everything he went through was all Lucius' fault and he hated him for it.

"Mate, if you glare at that note any harder, it'll combust" Blaise said watching Draco curiously. "What, did your mum cut off your sweet supply?" the Italian chuckled awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood.

With a sneer, Draco shoved the letter at his friend and let him read it. Blaise and Theo knew how he felt about his father and that his feelings were completely justified. They'd been at the Manor with him over the summer when Narcissa begged and pleaded with him to come with her and visit Lucius in Azkaban. He'd adamantly refused and told her that Lucius was dead to him and could rot in his cell for all he cared. Though visibly upset by his response, Narcissa understood and didn't push the issue with him. She only hoped that one day her only son would find it in him to forgive his father for all his trespasses.

After reading the letter, Blaise passed it to Theo, who scanned it then shared an uncertain look with Blaise. "Listen Draco, mate-"

"We need to get to class" Draco said harshly, cutting Theo off and standing up. His best friends understood that he didn't want to talk about it, nor did he want their pity or condolences. The both of them stood up without a word, and followed him out of the Great Hall.

Draco crumpled the letter in his hand and shoved it in his pocket. His dark mood seemed to broadcast itself around him, and most chose to stay out of his way. After everything Lucius did, he could not believe he was being let out just because he ratted out some wanted criminals and waved an impressive amount of money around. Stupid fucking ministry officials! They were supposed to bring justice about in their world, but clearly they were only interested in making themselves richer. Where was all that goody-goody morale and what not?

The three reached the potions classroom, and Draco made his way to his seat. The mudblood was already there with her supplies set up, no surprise. He really wanted to take his frustrations out on her, but he did have a bet to win and that wouldn't exactly work in his favor. She was still trying to ignore him and hadn't spoken a word to him since their patrol a few nights ago.

"Granger" he said in greeting, though his tone sounded irritated even to his own ears. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, having caught on to his foul mood, but quickly turned her head back towards the front without a word. This wasn't helping his mood whatsoever.

"You know, it's common manners to acknowledge someone when they're speaking to you" he said through grit teeth. She gave nothing away to indicate that she had heard him or that she would respond. His already waning patience with her had reached its end. Add that to his current anger, and he was ready to explode. He thought up a hundred different ways to infuriate her to make her yell, to make her insult him back, hell to make her say _something_, but before he could open his mouth to fire away, a high pitched voice called out to him.

"Drakie!" Both Draco and Hermione jumped at the shrill noise, not expecting Pansy to be so close to them, or so loud. Draco groaned as the Slytherin girl placed herself atop his desk and spread her legs giving him, Hermione, and everyone behind them a clear view up her skirt. She thought this would turn the blonde on, but he only let out a deep, irritated sigh while Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh Draco" Pansy cooed while not too subtly edging her foot up his thigh towards his crotch area. "I'm not in the mood for this class. I've been partnered with that awful Longbottom boy! What say you and I get out of here." she leaned down close to him and whispered the last part while fingering his tie.

"Pansy" he said stilling her hands and fighting the urge to break her wrists. "How many times do I have to say it? Leave. Me. _Alone!_" he hissed pushing her wrists and her foot away.

She tsked, then moved to straddle his lap and ran her hands all over his chest. "Come on Draco, don't be that way. You just need to relax baby. Let me help you."

He rolled his eyes heavenward. Did she not understand English? He was not in the mood to deal with this. "Pansy, go spread your cunt for someone else. I'm not interested." With that he pushed her off his lap, and she nearly lost her footing but grabbed on to the desk before she went down.

Most of the class had arrived by now, and began snickering at Draco's remark, including Hermione. Pansy scowled at them, but turned and addressed the curly haired witch. "What's so funny Granger? Care to share with the rest of us?"

"Oh nothing much" Hermione responded flippantly. "Just enjoying you making a bumbling idiot of yourself."

Pansy bristled at her retort while the rest of the class laughed and even Draco chuckled in amusement. Pansy shot a nasty look in his direction as though he had betrayed her, then turned her glare back to Hermione. "You think you're so funny do you? You're nothing but a filthy mudblood!"

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but Draco beat her to it. "Don't call her that." Hermione whipped her head towards him in surprise while the rest of the class mimicked her wide eyed expression. Did Draco Malfoy just take up for Hermione Granger? This was too good to be true.

"W-what?" Pansy asked shocked.

"Don't call her that" Draco reiterated in a more firm tone. "That's such a stupid insult anyway. It makes no sense." Surely Hermione was mishearing him. After all the first time she'd ever heard that word was back in second year when he called her that. So what was he doing taking up for her when someone else said it?

"Draco, I can't believe you!" Pansy all but shouted. "You've been acting strangely towards me since we've been back, and now you're actually taking up for some silly little mudblood?"

"Miss Parkinson!" called a voice from the doorway, and everyone turned around to see Professor Slughorn. "You will not use such foul language in my classroom! Detention tonight. Get back to your seat at once." Pansy huffed and shot one last disbelieving look at Draco before going to her table at the other end of the room.

Slughorn gave the directions for them to begin brewing a healing potion, then left the class to their own devices. Draco immediately set up their cauldron and got started. Hermione was still watching him with wide eyes as he continued his work. She was so confused! Why did Malfoy stand up for her?

"See something you like Granger?" called Malfoy, and Hermione realized she was still staring at him. "Looking is free, but touching will cost you" he said arrogantly causing her to blush a little. He smirked at that and could feel that his bad mood was starting to diminish. For the first time since he'd made this bet, he was actually glad for it seeing as it made a great distraction.

"Why did you do that?" Hermione asked him finally.

Draco feigned ignorance. "Do what Granger?"

"You know what!" she said exasperatedly. "Why did you take up for me when Parkinson called me a mudblood?"

He continued tending to the potion and she wondered if he was going to answer her. As she was about to just turn away, he spoke. "Maybe I'm taking the professor's advice and just trying to get over all this animosity."

Hermione looked at him suspiciously. This couldn't be the same Draco Malfoy she'd known since she was eleven. "You really expect me to believe that?"

Draco looked up and made eye contact with her. "I meant what I said. It's a stupid insult and makes no sense. It's about time people quit using it. The bloody war should have taught us that. Don't you think?"

She looked at him then as though she was just now seeing him for the first time. Whatever answer she was expecting, it certainly hadn't been that. She'd been so uncertain of the Malfoys as of late. She'd believed they were all prejudiced, evil bigots, but Narcissa had her doubting that when she betrayed Voldemort and gave information to the order last year, and then when she'd lied for Harry. And Malfoy had been different this year. Though he continued to insult her friends, he hadn't insulted her in a while and was even making attempts at being civil. Had the war opened his eyes?

Draco could practically hear her mind working furiously and knew he had her right where he wanted her. He'd taken up for her solely to show her that he wasn't the same twelve year old that bullied her, just like Daphne had told him to do. As annoying as she was, Pansy had ended up providing him with a golden opportunity. He'd expected it would get Granger to talk to him, and maybe even get Pansy off his back. Blaise and Theo probably knew that he did it for the bet. There was no need for them to know that he was serious about the insult being stupid and making no sense.

Deciding to further try his luck, he looked at her and said, "You just gonna stare at me all day, or do you at some point plan to help me brew this potion?" Granger watched him for just a few more seconds before nodding, coming to stand beside him, and giving out orders for the potion. He rolled his eyes as her bossy demeanor took over again, but couldn't help the small smirk that played across his mouth. He was just a little bit closer to winning this bet.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

The day had gone better than he expected. Granger had begun including him in their assignments, and actually asking for his input on things. He was after all second in the class, and together they got the highest marks in all of their classes. She was still slightly weary around him, and watched him when she thought he wasn't paying attention. It was like she didn't want to turn her back on him for fear of him surprising her with a sneak attack or something.

Blaise, Daphne, and Theo watched them discreetly throughout the day. The boys were surprised when Draco took up for her in potions and told Daphne about it. They insisted that Draco only did it for his benefit with the bet, but Daphne was sure it went a lot deeper than that.

"Seriously Daph, he's only being civil to soften her up" Theo said for the third time that day. "There is absolutely no way in hell he has some deep subconscious attraction towards her."

Daphne rolled her eyes and sighed. She was so tired of pointing out the obvious signs to them. It was getting really old. "He's enjoying the conversations he's having with her. He took up for her because it made him mad that someone else insulted her."

"Well yeah, because he thinks only he has the right to insult her" Blaise said.

"Exactly" Daphne replied. "Don't you think that's a little possessive? Why can he go eight years tormenting and calling her names, but the minute someone else does it, he defends her and says the insult was stupid? Doesn't make a lot of sense unless he felt something for her now does it?"

Blaise looked down in thought and seemed to be catching on, but Theo scoffed. "So what, just because he wants to be her sole tormentor, that means he's suddenly in love with her? Not bloody likely."

"Mark my words Theo" Daphne said, pointing a perfectly manicured nail at him. "Before this year is up, Draco will realize his feelings and try to win Granger for real."

"Yeah, and all the houses will join hands in unity and we'll see a widespread of mixed house relationships" Theo said sarcastically. "She's crazy, right Blaise?" he asked turning to his mate.

Blaise shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. It's too early to tell." Looking up at the clock, he realized the time and closed his book. "I've got to go. Don't want to be late for Herbology."

Theo raised an eyebrow at him. "Since when do you care about being late to Herbology?"

"Since I found a reason to start going" he replied, gathering up his things and making his way towards the greenhouses.

Theo stared after him confused, while Daphne folded her arms and smirked. "I bet he's found a girl from another house that's caught his interest. Maybe those mixed house relationships are more realistic than you think."

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Hermione looked up at the clock above the Gryffindor fire place and saw that she had to meet Malfoy in a few minutes. She closed the book she had been reading and turned to Harry and Ron who were sitting on the floor working on homework. "Well, I'm off to begin patrol. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Have fun 'Mione" Harry said giving her a small smile.

"Give the ferret a hex or two for me" Ron grunted without looking up from his parchment.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but chose not to respond. Though none of them liked Malfoy, Ron downright loathed him. It was a hatred that ran deep between both families and would probably always exist. Even when Narcissa helped the order last year, Ron was very skeptical of her and refused to believe that she was on their side, though her information helped save countless lives.

Hermione made her way through the corridors and down the stairs until she was in front of the Great Hall. She was surprised to see that she'd made it there first and leaned against the wall to wait for Malfoy. Enjoying this rare quiet time, she began to think about her blonde haired counterpart. Why was he being so civil to her this year? She could only remember him insulting her once during the first week of school, but other than that he'd been almost _pleasant_ towards her. Unlike the rest of his house, he never put up any protest or complaint when the professors arranged their seating charts, and he actually seemed to be going along with it. He couldn't truly put the past behind him and stop all the fighting with the other houses. Could he?

"You're thinking way too hard."

Hermione jumped as his voice startled her out of her thoughts and looked up to see him standing not too far away from her. She narrowed her eyes, but he only carried a smug look on his face, clearly pleased with himself.

"Well, are you just going to stare at me again, or are we going to start patrol sometime tonight?" he asked.

"Right. Lets go" she said shaking her thoughts away and proceeding down the hall. They walked on for a bit in silence, neither knowing what to say. She tried to think of something to start a conversation going, but she was never particularly good at small talk. The only thing she knew how to do with Malfoy was throw insults and hexes.

When she thought he wasn't looking, she took the time to study him yet again. As much as he annoyed and infuriated her, Hermione could not doubt that Malfoy was very attractive. With his porcelain like skin, pale blonde hair, mercurial eyes, and sharp aristocratic features, it was no wonder he was one of the most sought out males by almost the entire female population. He was lean, but not lanky and had muscles defined by years of quidditch practice. He was also very intelligent. He was excellent at potions and on his way to becoming a master of the subject. Though he didn't particularly care for either class, he was good at both Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, while most students in their grade were barely passing the classes. If he wasn't such a git, Hermione would probably fancy him herself.

She allowed her eyes to travel down his neck to his chest, then to his arms which were swinging casually by his side as he walked. Before her eyes could travel lower, something dark against his alabaster skin caught her eye. Looking up at it, she couldn't help but allow her gaze to settle on his left arm.

There, staring up at her was the dark mark. She'd seen it in the sky at the quidditch game before her fourth year, and again in sixth year when Malfoy had let some death eaters into the school and been tasked with killing Dumbledore. She shivered at the memory, seeing as that had been the night she learned of the horcruxes and had been given the mission to find the last three. She, Ron, and Harry had been hiding under the stairs when Malfoy tried to carry out the task, but couldn't. She'd also witnessed the death of her beloved Headmaster from Snape and sometimes the memory of the light leaving his eyes and his body falling off the tower still made its way into her dreams.

Draco, who'd caught her staring at his arm, took her shiver to mean that she was disgusted by him and was labeling him because of that cursed mark against his flesh. Feeling the strange urge to justify himself to her, he began to speak before he could stop himself. "I never wanted it you know."

"What?" Hermione asked, looking up at him a little embarrassed that she had been caught.

"This bloody tattoo. I never wanted it." he said again, looking at her with a fierce expression. He didn't know why, but he wanted her to know he wouldn't have chosen this if he'd truly had the choice in the first place. "As a kid, I saw it on my father's arm all the time. It always creeped me out. Sometimes, I could swear the snake was moving and it looked like it would come off his arm and attack me. When I asked him about it, he told me it was nothing and not to worry about it. Imagine my surprise when I later found out it was definitely something and I should indeed worry about it." Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice was screaming at him not to dump all of this on her, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. It was like word vomit.

"I never asked for it. I literally walked into a room in my home not knowing what to expect, and walked out branded like a fucking animal. That was the first time I ever saw him. The Dark Lord. He was the freakiest fucking thing I'd ever laid eyes on. And that huge pet snake of his. The two looked like they were from the same family." He paused to take a deep breath, but had a faraway look in his eye. Hermione could tell he was in a different place in his mind, reliving this time in his life, and she listened with rapt attention, surprised that he was sharing this with her.

"They brought in a group of us. All my friends and people I grew up with were summoned, seeing how most of us were death eater children. He wanted new recruits; to expand his army. But he was only choosing one that day. Had a specific mission he wanted carried out when we returned for sixth year. I never even opened my bloody mouth, but I was volunteered. That was good enough for him. He grabbed my arm and dug his wand into me, reciting the spell. I'd never been in so much fucking pain, but I knew if I cried out or made any noise, he'd see it as a sign of weakness and probably torture me. When it finally stopped, I looked down to see the same fucking tattoo that was on my father's arm. There was that creepy fucking snake glaring up at me like it wanted to eat me. Afterwards, I had to look him in his eyes and thank him. I had to _thank him _for branding me with a mark that I didn't even want and a bloody suicide mission!"

Hermione stared up at him in shock. She'd thought Malfoy wanted to become a death eater, and probably wanted the task of killing the Headmaster without truly realizing how difficult it would be and what it would entail. Never did she think that he was forced into it. She knew that was the excuse he used during his trial in front of the Wizengamot, but she thought it had just been a ruse to save his skin from Azkaban. Looking at him now and the sincere emotion in his eyes, she knew he was telling the truth.

"I thought it would go away" he continued in a quieter voice, still with that faraway look in his eyes. "I thought once he died, the mark would fade and I wouldn't have to see it again. But it didn't. I got to where I couldn't even stand to stare at it. One night, I decided I would get rid of it myself. I ran a blade right down the middle of the skull. Caused a deep gash, but the mark was still there. The dark magic was holding it together. I could swear both the skull and snake were laughing at me. I freaked out and tried to cut it out again and again, but no matter what it wouldn't go away and rose slightly above my skin. My mother walked in on me. She thought I was trying to off myself or something. Had to wrestle the knife out of my hand, then used all kinds of healing spells on my arm and healing pastes. Three days later, all the cuts were gone and it looked like I'd never tried to hack the skin of my arm off. But I could swear the mark got even darker, as though it was reminding me that no matter what, I'll be forever labeled." His voice trailed off at the end and all was quiet except for the soft footfalls of their walking.

After a few beats of silence, Draco snapped out of his trance. A horrified look came across his face as he realized what he'd just told her. What the hell was wrong with him?! Why did he unload all of that personal shite on her? He'd never talked about that with anyone, not even his mother. He looked down at her to see that her gaze wasn't on him, but rather looking down in thought. He opened his mouth to tell her that he didn't mean any of what he'd just said and that it was all just a joke, when her voice stopped him.

"That's why you did it" she said softly, finally looking up and meeting his eyes.

"Huh?" he questioned in confusion.

"Your friends" she said, not taking her eyes off of him. "That's why you sent them to the order, isn't it? You wanted to keep them safe and not be forced into that like you were."

"How did you know I sent them?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"We overheard some of them talking one night while we were at Headquarters, trying to figure out where the next horcrux was" she explained. "We were surprised when all these Slytherins started showing up pledging their allegiance to the light and begging us for protection. We thought they would want to join Voldemort's ranks. Ron was always suspicious and thought it was a trick." Draco scoffed at this, but Hermione continued. "I was passing by one of their rooms one night on the way to the kitchen, when I heard two of your friends talking about it. I believe it was Zabini and Nott. They'd said you wouldn't allow them to take part in a raid, nor cast any unforgiveables, and that you told them to get to the order and no matter what, refuse to join Voldemort."

Draco flinched slightly at her casual use of the name of the man that had caused him to be so fearful of his own home. He didn't think he could ever reach a point where he would refer to him as anything other than the Dark Lord.

"They didn't notice I was standing outside the door, so they had no idea I was listening." She continued. "I couldn't believe it at first. Why would you encourage them to be on the opposite side of you during the war? I thought surely they were mistaken. But then a few weeks later, your mother came offering to be a spy for the order and giving out information about raids and where he would be striking next. Through her we also found out about Snape's true loyalty and that one of Voldemort's horcruxes was in your Aunt Bellatrix's vault. Without your mother's help, we wouldn't have been able to get in and destroy that horcrux, and probably wouldn't have won the war. I think that's when I realized that it's not as simple as good people and bad people. The world's not black and white, and there's many shades of grey."

The two continued their patrol in silence, each taking in what the other had said. The conversation they'd had was deep and neither had expected the other to be so open with them. For Hermione, she was coming to see her childhood bully in a whole new light. For Draco, he was surprised that she actually got it. He didn't know where the urge to tell her all of that came from, but he couldn't ignore the fact that it felt good telling someone.

Their patrol ended in front of the library, and Hermione turned and started making her way back to Gryffindor tower. She'd gone about ten steps before she turned around. "Malfoy!" she called out to his retreating figure.

He turned his head back towards her, but kept his body faced the opposite way. He raised his eyebrows in way of asking what she wanted.

She hesitated for a moment, then met his gaze. "For what it's worth, I really admire the things you did for your friends and family last year."

He was surprised for a minute that she'd actually said something nice about him. Not a lot of people admired much of his actions. Looking at her, he began to think that maybe Granger wasn't so bad. As quickly as the thought crossed his mind, he pushed it out and let a horrible sneer take over his face. He'd already made a fool of himself once in front of her tonight, and he'd be damned if he let his emotions make him look like that again. He was in this solely to win a bet he reminded himself, and nothing more.

"It's not worth much, considering I don't care what you think" he said coldly, then turned and walked back to the dungeons.

**AN: Finally, we've moved on to a little deeper plotline! I know some things are probably a little confusing, but I'll uncover more details further into the story. Also, I'm giving you guys one last chance to tell me which girl you'd rather see paired with Harry; Daphne or Luna. Review please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, not me.**

**AN: I would like to say that I have written up a rough outline for this story! Still not entirely sure how it will end, but I do have some key points I will be hitting and now that I have a general idea of where I'm going with the storyline, things between our dear Draco and Hermione should progress smoothly! But I'm **_**always **_**open to plot ideas : ) Also, the majority has spoken. It looks like the pairing will be Harry and Daphne. Sorry to those of you who wished for a Harry/Luna pairing, but if it's any condolence, there won't be very many scenes between them.**

"Hehehe! Oh Won-Won, you're so funny!"

Hermione thought she was going to be sick. It was bad enough having to listen to this back in sixth year when she still had feelings for Ron, but now that their relationship was strictly platonic, she realized her annoyance for Lavender Brown didn't stem from jealousy. She just couldn't stand the airhead in general.

Today they were going to Hogsmeade after they finished breakfast. Hermione had been excited and looking forward to this since they'd made plans last week, and couldn't wait to spend the day with just her and her boys. But the plans had changed when Ron came up to her and Harry last night in the common room and nervously asked if Lavender could join them. His question was directed more at Hermione as he was unsure about how she would take him bringing along a romantic interest when they'd broken up only a month and a half before. She was disappointed because she wanted it to be just the three of them, but she also didn't want to make things difficult between her and Ron, so she gave him a smile and told him it was fine. He looked relieved and went off in search of Lavender, while Hermione tried to quell her bitterness.

Though she truly didn't like Ron as anything more than a friend, she couldn't deny that it slightly hurt watching him go back with Lavender. She and Lavender had never really gotten along ever, but after Ron broke up with her in sixth year, she'd blamed Hermione and their dislike for each other escalated. Since they'd come back, Lavender had been trying to get Ron's attention and had apparently succeeded. Anytime Hermione happened to walk by them talking together in the common room, or laughing about something at meals, she shot the brainy witch a smug look and would make a big show of playing with Ron's hair or brushing against him. It was juvenile and pathetic, but then again she shouldn't expect anything less from someone like Brown. But although the girl irked her, she realized that Ron seemed to genuinely like her and if she wanted to continue being friends with him, she would have to tolerate the blonde bimbo.

Ron grinned at Lavender's compliment and embraced the attention she so willingly offered him. He had his arm wrapped around her, and she was practically in his lap. She reached over to her plate, picked up a bunch of grapes, and proceeded to feed them to him. Hermione watched them disbelievingly. How utterly embarrassing! She looked over and caught Harry's eye who made a nauseated face and mimicked throwing up. She tried to hide her smirk by taking a drink of her pumpkin juice. At least she wasn't the only one irritated by Ron and Lavender's public display of affection.

They finished up their breakfast and made their way to the entrance where the carriages were waiting to take them to the small town. Looking around, Hermione noticed that a few students were mingling with students from opposing houses. There were Hufflepuffs climbing into the carriages with Ravenclaws, and also with some Slytherins. _'Maybe those seating arrangements are having the desired effect McGonagall was aiming for'_ she thought to herself.

Just as she and the others were stepping up to get in their carriage, she heard her name being called by said professor. "Miss Granger! Oh good, looks like I caught you just in the nick of time" the older woman said, making her way through the crowd and up to Hermione.

"I know it is not your day to patrol, bur my Ravenclaw prefect has come down with a virus and won't be attending Hogsmeade today. I need you and Mr. Malfoy to take over the afternoon shift and make sure all the third years make it back to the castle at the appropriate time" the older witch informed her. Hermione's eyes widened and she let out a strangled surprised noise, but McGonagall paid no attention to it. "I have already informed Mr. Malfoy and he said he would meet you in front of the Three Broomsticks at one. That will give you the morning and lunch to spend time with your friends. I trust there won't be any issues?" Hermione shook her head and climbed into the carriage after her friends.

"Blimey 'Mione! You just can't seem to catch a break from ferret face, can you" Ron said, mimicking Hermione's thoughts.

"That is a bit unfortunate" Harry said giving Hermione a sympathetic smile.

"Bit unfortunate? It's bloody awful!" Ron continued. "It's bad enough they let death eater scum like him come back when we all know he should be sitting in Azkaban, but having him around innocent people like 'Mione is just mental. What if the git tries to attack her?"

"I can take care of myself Ron" Hermione told him curtly. "I do have a bit of experience in that field." She hated when Ron acted like she was some poor defenseless little girl. He had been right there with her at the battle for the ministry and witnessed her duel and stun Dolohov, Rookwood, and one of the Carrows. Compared to that, dealing with Malfoy was a walk in the park.

Ron quieted down, but Lavender decided to inject her opinion where it wasn't needed. "He was just simply looking out for you" she said in her nasally voice. "You could show a bit of gratitude you know."

Hermione grit her teeth and mentally counted to five. "I _am _grateful that he cares for me, but there is nothing he needs to be concerned over. I can handle Malfoy."

Lavender stuck her nose in the air, and had the gall to look down at Hermione, as though she were speaking to a child. "You don't sound very grateful to me. Your attitude has a lot to do with the way people treat you. Maybe that's why you and Won-Won didn't work out in the first place."

Ron's face turned red in embarrassment, while Hermione's face turned red from anger. They didn't talk about their breakup, seeing how it was too awkward, but it wasn't any of Lavender's business. Someone else blaming Hermione for their decision to end things between them was not what she needed right now, and she was two seconds away from hexing Lavender into next year.

Sensing Hermione's rising fury, Harry quickly intervened. "Their breakup was mutual because they're just better off as friends. Nothing wrong with that. Let's just enjoy our morning together. I've got to stop by the quidditch shop and pick up some broom polishing potion and new gloves. Practice starts next week, and I want to be prepared." Ron quickly piped up at quidditch talk and began a conversation with Harry about different techniques. Lavender shot one last smug look at Hermione, before draping her arms around Ron and leaning into him.

They reached the town and the four Gryffindors made their rounds around to the different shops, starting with the quidditch store. They were in there for longer than Hermione cared for, but seeing both of her boys faces light up when entering had her smiling in spite of herself, and allowing them to stay as long as they liked without complaint. They visited Honeydukes, and even stopped by the Hogshead to say hi to Aberforth. Afterwards, Hermione wanted to visit the bookshop. Lavender openly showed her disinterest and dragged Ron away to Madame Puddifoots, wanting to spend some alone time with him. Hermione glared at their retreating backs, wanting nothing more than to send a jelly-leg jinx at Brown. At least then she wouldn't be able to sway her hips as hard as she was.

Harry knew Hermione was frustrated with Lavender, and he felt bad for his friend. It was incredibly obvious that Brown was trying to dangle Ron in front of Hermione., though she didn't understand that Hermione didn't want Ron like that anymore. He had to admit, the girl was very annoying and had been trying his patience all morning, but she was good for Ron and his self esteem, and if his other best mate was happy, that's all Harry wanted. "Come on, let's get to the bookshop" Harry said, getting Hermione's attention.

"You don't have to come in there with me, Harry" Hermione sighed, turning away from Ron and Lavender's retreating backs. "I know I can get carried away when looking at books, and if there's somewhere you'd rather be, I won't mind."

Harry smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. "I know I don't have to go in there with you, but I _want _to. There's a difference. You went into the quidditch store with me even though I could tell you were bored. Besides, I want to spend some time with you before Malfoy steals you away" he said in a teasing tone.

Hermione smiled and playfully slapped his chest. "Honestly Harry, sometimes you can be so immature."

"I know, but that's why you love me" he said giving her a quick squeeze as they made their way into the bookstore. They spent a fair amount of time in there, before they both got hungry and headed to a small café for lunch. Again Hermione noticed that there were a lot of people intermingling with other houses. At the table across from Harry and her, she saw Adrian Pucey sitting with Terry Boot and Justin Finch-Fletchley, and laughing about something. She was surprised to say the least, considering Justin was a muggleborn like herself. Although after the Slytherins had joined the order last year, they'd seemed more civil to her and didn't treat her like dirt beneath their shoe.

Harry and Hermione engaged in pleasant conversation and she was enjoying their time together, but she still wished Ron was with them too. Sometimes she hated change and wished they could just go back to the time when it was always just the three of them. But sometimes people outgrew old friendships, and as much as she didn't want that, it looked like that was what was happening with Ron and her. After she and Harry finished lunch, she decided it was time to head over to the Three Broomsticks and meet Malfoy. She told Harry bye as he headed towards a different shop, and made her way into the opposite direction.

Since McGonagall had asked her to patrol this morning, she'd tried not to think about it. After their patrol last night, she was left feeling confused. He seemed to be doing that a lot to her lately. First he took up for her with Parkinson, then he actually began being a help with all of their assignments in class rather than slack off, then they have a deep emotional conversation where she thinks maybe he isn't so terrible, but when she says something nice about him he brings back his cold aloof manner! Merlin he was so frustrating!

As the Three Broomsticks came into sight, she saw him already standing there, waiting for her. Wow the git was actually three minutes early. How…considerate of him. She wondered if things would be awkward between them now because of last night, and for what seemed like the millionth time that year, cursed the fates for deciding to torture her this year.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Merlin he was such an idiot! Seriously, what was wrong with him? Why did he share all of that personal mess with Granger last night? He knew he needed to earn her trust, but not by telling her the bloody truth! He was a Slytherin damnit! If his forefather had heard all his bloody confessions last night, he wouldn't hesitate to kick him out of his noble house.

As if that hadn't been bad enough, he'd probably screwed up worse when he snapped at her for what she said. She was probably ticked at him and Merlin forbid she start ignoring him again! Salazaar, if it was this hard to get her to talk to him the first time, it'd be downright impossible to get her to do it again.

When McGonagall told him this morning that she needed him to take the afternoon patrol with Granger, he'd been a little apprehensive at first. But he quickly got over it when he realized that he needed to put things with Granger back on track and continue softening her up. He'd spent the morning with Blaise, Theo, and Daphne while trying to hide from Pansy. Yesterday clearly hadn't sent her his desired message, and she'd been trying to catch up with him to "talk" and what not. Bloody stupid bint!

Hearing footsteps approach, he looked up and saw her standing in front of him. She had a cold look on her face, and he knew he'd have to fix this before he lost all of his progress so far.

"Granger" he greeted in a calm, polite tone.

"Malfoy" she replied back curtly.

He sighed. '_Here goes nothing' _he thought. "Look, Granger-"

"Let's go" she said cutting him off, and turning on her heel down the path.

He blinked at her, before falling in line beside her. He was irritated that she interrupted his attempt at smoothing things over, but he should be used to that by now. After all he was quickly learning that Granger most definitely wasn't like other girls.

"Have fun today?" he asked trying to start a conversation.

"Yes" she replied, looking ahead.

"Buy anything?"

"No."

"Anywhere you want to stop by?"

"No."

"Anything you want to do?" he asked through grit teeth, getting frustrated now.

"No" she said again in that blank tone, not even trying to converse with him.

"Well maybe we can stop by the potions shop and see about getting you a damn hormone control potion. Obviously you must be on the rag. That, or it's just the perpetual stick up your arse" he bit out harshly at her.

She stopped walking and whipped around to face him with a glare. "Excuse me?" she hissed in a furious tone.

"You heard me" he said, glaring back at her. "You're bloody attitude problem is getting on my last nerve."

This was the second person today who accused her of having an attitude. She didn't have one, and even if she did, it was _their _faults for making her that way. "You're one to talk about attitude problems, Malfoy" she spat. "Maybe we should see if they have a bipolar disorder potion! Your changing moods are driving me crazy!"

"Well I was trying to make nice with you, before you so rudely interrupted me" he replied. "This entire year I've tried being polite to you, but it's like you don't understand the concept of common courtesy! And you wonder why we don't get along!"

"Oh, silly me!" she said stepping into his personal space, her voice rising in pitch. "I thought it had to do with the fact that racism and bigotry is so deeply rooted in you that you actually believe me beneath you! Or maybe the fact that you've tormented and called me names all throughout our schooling years! You've bullied me for as long as I've known you, insult my friends, tried to get us expelled on numerous occasions-"

"You're lot isn't so innocent either! You've taunted right back, always stick you bloody noses in other people's business-"

"I WAS NOT FINISHED!" she shouted. "After doing all of that for eight years, you then have the nerve to come back and not only be civil, but defend me when someone else calls me that filthy word, and just when I start to think that maybe there's more to you than meets the eye, you act like a prat again!" He could see the anger glimmering in her eyes, and her hair was practically cackling with her fury. Though she was pissing him off, he had to admit she looked fucking hot when she was angry.

"I can't take all these different personalities you're throwing at me1" she said, still yelling. "You cannot go eight years calling me a mudblood, then overnight decide you want to be nice to me! Do you still think I'm below you Malfoy? Why are you being so bloody confusing? I bet your just itching to call me a mudblood right now, aren't you? Well go ahead, say it! I bet-"

"UGH! YOU CHANGED MY BLOODY MIND, ALRIGHT?!" he shouted throwing his hands up, and effectively silencing her rant. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, looking at him shocked.

"Huh?" she questioned, clearly confused.

He sighed, then stepped around her and continued walking down the path with her following. "You changed my mind" he said again in a calmer tone, though she could detect the underlying frustration. "I don't really believe in blood supremacy anymore. When Pansy called you a mudblood yesterday, I realized how stupid it sounded. I meant what I told her whether you believe me or not." She watched him through her eyelashes as he continued to talk.

"I was taught to hate you and your kind. I was told mud…muggleborns didn't deserve their magic, and didn't know how to control it anyway. But then here you came, proving everything I'd been taught wrong, and being top of our class. I couldn't understand it, and it made me furious because I was supposed to be the top student." He looked down at her then. She seemed to understand where he was coming from because she didn't look angry anymore, instead she looked thoughtful.

"After last year and everything that happened, I decided that we were wrong" he continued. "Your magic is just as powerful as mine, so you can't be below me."

"Why did you call me a mudblood at the beginning of the year?" she asked curiously.

"I guess old habits die hard" he replied. "Plus you're still annoying. And a bossy know-it-all." She could hear the teasing note in his voice and couldn't help the small smile that played across her mouth.

"And you're still an arrogant prick" she said not missing a beat.

"I won't deny that" he said smugly as they continued down the path. Secretly, he kind of liked the fact that Granger could keep up with him in a verbal spar. Not many could, and he did like a challenge.

"So, where do we go from here?" she asked him after a moment.

"Well" he said looking down at her. "Maybe we could start out with a truce."

"A truce? Does that mean you'll stop insulting my friends too?" she asked.

Draco snorted. "Let's not get carried away now Granger. I'm proposing a truce with you, not Scarhead and Weaslebee." She huffed at his nicknames, but he wasn't compromising that. Saint Potter had embarrassed him one too many times in front of his friends and others, and there was absolutely no way he would ever be on friendly terms with a Weasley. The very idea was just preposterous!

"So what all will this truce entail" she asked deciding to take what she could get.

"We'll stop insulting each other, or assuming things about the other. We'll work together peacefully in class, and have civil conversations in patrol like we're doing now. Sound good?"

She gave him a smile that lit up her features. He found that although she was hot when she was angry, she was beautiful when she smiled like that._ 'What the fuck! Get it together Draco! This is Granger. Remember the bet, remember the bet…'_

"Definitely" she answered. "Who knows? Maybe one day we can eventually work our way up to friends." Again, he detected the teasing tone her voice had taken and he realized he enjoyed doing this with her.

"Friends with benefits?" he asked suggestively, causing her to blush and narrow her eyes at him.

"Git" she said lightly smacking his arm.

"Know-it-all" he shot back.

"Prat."

"Bookworm."

**AN: A little shorter than my other chapters, but I felt like this would be a good place to stop. I've been writing this chapter all day, and got really excited about posting it! Two chapters in three days, I'm shocked myself! So Lavender's a bitch, right? Guess it's my fault for writing her that way haha! Truthfully, I wish the series had ended with Ron and Lavender, but alas JK Rowling did not share my line of thinking. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I read somewhere that JK considered Dramione, but decided not to use it because she felt it would be too much of a plot twist. Can anyone tell me if that's true or not? If it is, I so wish she'd gone through with it. As always, please review! LOVE YOU GUYS!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything Harry Potter. I own nothing.**

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Hermione chose to ignore his annoying habit and continue with her research. They were currently sitting in the library working on a research paper for Slughorn about all the different uses of dragon's blood. Well more like Hermione was researching and Draco was being absolutely useless while tapping his quill against the desk repeatedly.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

She grit her teeth together and tried to continue her studying, but his incessant tapping was grating on her last nerve. She needed total peace and quiet, otherwise her concentration would be lost and she may not be able to earn all possible points. Slughorn did grade fairly easy and always gave her the highest points on anything she turned in, but that was beside the point.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Ta-_

"Oh for the love of Merlin, will you cut it out?" she finally snapped at him.

He grinned broadly. It was rather obvious his tapping was annoying her and he had been purposely doing it to see how long it would take her to say something. She had made it three minutes. He had to admit, her patience impressed him.

"Honestly Malfoy, I don't even know why you bothered showing up": she scoffed, folding her arms. "It's not like you're even helping."

"Because this is stupid" he replied. "This paper isn't even due for another two and a half weeks, yet here we are working on it before anyone else has even given thought to it. As usual" he added as an afterthought.

"So we're ahead of everyone else. I don't see the problem" she said.

_'Of course you don't' _he thought to himself, though it didn't surprise him. She was after all the brightest witch of their age and she didn't get that title by procrastinating. "Who cares if we're ahead of everyone else? Regardless of if we do the essay now or the night before it's due, it'll get done."

"But if we wait until the night before it's due, it will be sloppy and hurried rather than structured and organized" she countered. "And if we get it done now, we'll have more freetime to do other things without it looming over us."

"Oh?" he questioned raising an eyebrow. "Pray tell Granger, what will you be doing with your freetime?"

She paused for a moment. "Um…well, I-"

"No wait, let me guess" he continued. "You'll use it to work on assignments from other classes that aren't due for weeks, or go ask professors for extra credit that you don't need, or study for NEWTS which are _months_ away, or you'll frequent the library even more so and try to fit more useless knowledge in that oversized brain of yours." It was almost scary how well he knew her personality, but being around someone for eight years was bound to make you notice things like that.

She bristled at his spot on prediction of how she spent her time. His words weren't venomous as they might have been before they called their truce a week ago, and though they still bickered, it was more friendly banter than anything. Still, his words bothered her. Was she really that easy to read?

"I-it's not-I don't…" she spluttered trying to think of a comeback or deny what they both knew was true. Draco only chuckled at her and leaned back in his chair. "Relax Granger, before you hurt yourself. It's basic human nature to stick with what you know. And what you know is how to study and be the best." He felt a little bad when he realized that his words may have sounded a little callous and wanted to reassure her. Why he felt anything at all, he was still trying to figure out.

She would have accepted his Slytherin-sly, backhanded compliment had it not bothered her how spot on he really was. Outside of studying, she truly had no life. It was kind of…pathetic. If Malfoy could predict her so well, that must mean others did also and maybe even her friends. Oh God, was that what they thought of her? Was that why she and Ron broke up? Because he found her to be…boring? Maybe it really was her fault…

No! She and Ron didn't work out because they weren't compatible and better off as friends, just like Harry said. She wasn't boring! She was just responsible. She still couldn't squash down these new insecurities that were building up, so she decided to turn this around on Malfoy. "Alright you git, and just how would you spend your free time, hmm? Wait, let me guess" she said mockingly. "You'll chase down some easy slag and drop those ridiculous pick up lines to get her in your bed, then send her on her way once you've had your way with her. Sound about right?"

Draco merely gave a shrug. "At least I'm not denying it. Although we hardly ever make it to my bed." He smirked as she blushed deeply. "And that's only one possible thing I could do. I might choose to hang out with my friends, spend a ridiculous amount of galleons on things I probably don't need, or even practice with my teammates for the upcoming quidditch game. But instead of doing any of that, I'm choosing to sit here with you and work on this stupid paper that isn't due for a couple of weeks. You should consider yourself lucky Granger. I've taken time out of my busy schedule just for you. There are many who would love to be in your position" he boasted, giving her his signature smirk.

She rolled her eyes, but gave a smile of her own in return. Secretly she was wondering why he was here in the library with her if he so obviously had a plethora of things he'd rather be doing. But she also just as secretly was really coming to like having him around. Once you got past his arrogant and prickly exterior, he was actually quite humorous and could not only carry on an intelligent conversation, but challenge her as well. She was beginning to look forward to and enjoy their time in class spent together and their conversations, but these new feelings were also scaring her a little.

"Lucky me" she said sarcastically. "I'm so glad you were able to squeeze in some time for me by sitting here doing nothing while I wrote _our _paper. What ever would I have done without you?"

"No need to thank me Granger, I do what I can" he replied cheekily. This time she couldn't help the laugh that escaped past her lips and shook her head. He had been making her laugh a lot more, and she liked that.

Madame Pince came over and informed them that she was closing the library in five minutes and they needed to collect their things and return to their common room. Surprisingly, it was Malfoy who gathered up the vast number of books Hermione acquired and returned them all to their rightful places. Sometimes he could be a real gentleman. When he wasn't being a prat that is.

"Well Granger, this was just so much fun. We _have_ to do this again sometime" Draco said in mock cheeriness as they began walking out of the library together.

"Of course Malfoy" she replied in the same tone. "And maybe next time you could actually crack open a book and make yourself useful rather than being your usual annoying self."

He smirked and held the door open as she walked out, then fell into step beside her again. "Don't count on it."

"Wasn't that adorable?" cooed Daphne as she stepped out of her hiding spot and watched Draco and Hermione continue walking and talking down the corrider.

"Bloody terrific" mumbled Theo, stretching out his stiff muscles. He, Daphne, and Blaise had snuck into the library and spied on the two former enemies while hiding behind a bookshelf close by, unbeknownst to Draco of course. Their friend had walked into the common room two hours ago and randomly called off quidditch practice that night, then disappeared without giving a reason as to why he cancelled. Theo and Blaise assumed he was off to find another slut to shag, but Daphne insisted he was going to spend time with Granger. They'd fought over who was right until they finally decided to track the blonde down and see for themselves. Leave it to Daphne to be right. The boys swore she must have seer's blood in her.

"And here I thought he might have actually had a good reason to cancel practice" Blaise said, brushing imaginary dust from his clothes. "But apparently annoying Granger is much more important than winning the house cup this year."

"Oh lighten up Blaise" Daphne chided. "I thought it was very sweet that he'd give up practice just to spend some time with her."

"You won't think it's sweet when we lose to Hufflepuff" Blaise replied. "And it's not like he doesn't see her enough. The two are practically joined at the hip now. He's got it bad for Granger."

"Got what bad?" Theo asked completely clueless.

Daphne sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. "Honestly Theo, how did you make it this far in school? Draco very obviously has a major crush on Granger! Just like I've been telling you this whole time!"

"Okay, okay don't get your knickers in a twist" Theo said putting his hands up in defeat. "I see it now, alright? Only someone who totally has a thing for Granger would submit themselves to this kind of torture. I mean he actually gave up quidditch to sit in the library with her for two hours. Who does that? I didn't even know we had a library!"

Blaise gave Theo an are-you-really-that-dumb look while Daphne rolled her eyes. "Yet again I repeat, how did you make it this far in school?"

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Draco walked into breakfast the next morning with his usual trail of fan girls, though the blonde gave out no smirks or winks. Instead, he walked straight over to his seat, plopped down, and began filling his plate without sparing any of them a glance. Theo and Blaise took immediate notice of this, and shared a nervous look. They didn't have a problem with Draco actually liking Granger and wanting to be with her for real. However, if she returned those feelings and was seduced by his undeniable charms, they would have to transfer schools after performing their embarrassing act.

Just then, the post came in and began delivering the mail to the students. The Malfoy family's majestic black feathered owl easily stood out from the others as it gracefully swooped down and dropped a letter in front of Draco. He was confused, seeing as his mother had already sent his weekly letter along with his usual treats, but once he turned the letter over and saw his name addressed on the front, he realized that this wasn't from his mother. After seeing it on documents in their family study and other times when receiving letters in his younger years, he'd recognize Lucius' handwriting anywhere. He tore it open rather violently and began to read.

_ Draco My Son,_

_I hope this letter finds you in good health. How are your studies going? I have no doubt that you are continuing with your high marks and outshining most academically. You are after all a Malfoy. I have yet to return to work and probably will hold off opening our industry back up for a few more months. Rest assured though that I will bring the company out of the slight hole it's found itself in and have it in pristine condition for when you take your rightful place as head. Under you, I'm positive the business will flourish and prosper more so than it has for other family members. Stay on top of your studies, make Slytherin proud this year in quidditch, and let me know if the team is in need of new brooms or updated uniforms. I look forward to hearing from you._

_ Lucius_

Draco seethed and glared hard at the letter. Rather than combusting, the paper was engulfed in flames and charred away into nothingness. Blaise and Theo let out startled yelps which gained the attention of the rest of their table and a few glances from others, but Draco didn't notice. He was too wrapped up in his fury.

The nerve of that bastard actually writing him! Could he not understand that Draco wanted nothing more to do with him? He'd thought the message had been clear when he refused to visit him this past summer. And did he honestly think Draco didn't know what was going on with Malfoy Industries? He'd been there when the Wizengamot decided to seize control of the Malfoy family business and some of their vaults. They were able to keep some of their Gringotts accounts due to his mother switching sides and helping the order, but the ministry was currently going through them to claim and destroy all dark artifacts. His father would probably be able to get the company back if he once again gave the right sum of money to the right people, but he was foolish if he thought Draco wanted to take it over. Being a Malfoy now was almost something to be ashamed of and it was all thanks to Lucius.

"Draco?" Blaise questioned, trying to get the blonde's attention. He looked up at the Italian, but his mind was elsewhere and he wasn't really paying attention. Without a word to his friends, he got up and walked out of the Great Hall while the entire Slytherin table and a few other students stared after him.

Hermione had been watching him since he'd come into breakfast. He'd seemed in a good mood, though she had noticed that he didn't acknowledge the giggling idiots that always followed him around as he usually did. She'd been happy about that, though she didn't know why. Malfoy was a playboy and if he chose to continue entertaining the sluts that threw themselves at him, he had every right and it wasn't any of her business. Besides, it's not like she liked him or anything…well, he was kind of cute, and funny, and intelligent, and-NO! She and Malfoy had called a truce and were now tolerable to each other and nothing more she kept reminding herself.

Still even as she kept repeating this mantra over and over again in her head, she couldn't stop watching him from her seat, which none of her housemates seemed to notice. Harry was talking to Seamus and Dean about their strategy plan this year in quidditch, and Ron was so wrapped up in Lavender that he hadn't even noticed Hermione walked in that morning. That may have bothered her a week ago, but now she really couldn't have cared less. She still wished she and Ron would stop drifting apart and go back to how they were before they dated, but she now had other things on her mind to keep her distracted from that issue. Mainly a blonde haired Slytherin.

She'd noticed how his entire demeanor had darkened once he received that letter. The more he read, the worse it got and she doubted he knew that he had used wandless magic to incinerate it. He'd gotten up with rage clearly etched into his features and stormed out of the hall. She wanted to know what was wrong, but she didn't know how he would react to her asking. He'd probably yell or insult her and she didn't want to fight with him. Whatever was in that letter was surely something Draco didn't want.

"Mione, look at this" said Ginny from beside her. Hermione turned to see that the red haired witch was reading a story on one of the back pages of the Daily Prophet. The Headline read, **Lucius Malfoy Pardoned for his Crimes against Wizarding Society for aiding the Ministry in the Capture of Rogue Death Eaters!** The article basically stated that Lucius was released from Azkaban a few days ago for giving information on how to find runaway death eaters and anyone who worked for Voldemort without the ministry knowing. It said that he was now on probation and refused to comment when reporters asked him questions.

Did this tie into Malfoy's mood? Was this the reason he was upset? Hermione didn't know how his relationship with his father was since the war, but after their deep talk during their patrol that one time, she wondered if it was strained. He'd said he was volunteered for the mission in sixth year and she'd often thought about who would volunteer him for that. Had it been Lucius? Surely not. Why would he place his son in that kind of danger? But then again, with the Malfoy's anything was possible.

Her anxiousness to find out what was wrong and curiosity about the situation finally got to her and she decided to go and find him. She stood up from the table and began to walk out.

"Hermione, where are you going?" Ginny called after her, getting Harry and Ron's attention.

She didn't want them to know that she was going after Malfoy. She hadn't even told them about their truce yet. She knew the boys couldn't stand him and if she told them about how they were getting along, they might feel betrayed by her and it would make the strain on their friendship even more unbearable, especially between her and Ron. "I think I may have left my potions textbook in the dorm. I'm going to get it then head to the library for some extra research. Don't wait up for me" she said, thinking quickly. She was surprised how quickly and easily the lie rolled off her tongue. Malfoy and his Slytherin tendencies were rubbing off on her it seemed.

"Of course, should have known" Ron said with a slight smile. "Where else would you be going? It's not like you do anything fun." He and Lavender laughed while Hermione's face turned down in a frown. Ron hadn't meant the words in a hurtful manner and she knew that, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. She really was boring wasn't she? Oh how she hated Ron's tactlessness.

She shook her head and pushed it to the back of her mind as she left and went in search of Malfoy. Now wasn't the time to think about that. She racked her brain for places where the blonde may have gone. It was too early for class and she doubted he'd make his way down there to wait for forty five minutes. It was unlikely that he'd be in the library and she hoped that he hadn't gone back to the Slytherin Common Room. He probably wanted to blow off some steam and would go somewhere that no one else was. The more she thought about it, the more one place in particular came to mind, and she decided to go on her instinct by making her way outside and down towards the quidditch pitch.

Sure enough, there he was way up in the air doing laps on his broom. His dark mood was still very much present as he whipped furiously back and forth across the quidditch field at alarming speeds. Just watching him made Hermione nervous seeing how just one wrong turn could send him plummeting to his death.

He must not have been as unfocused as she thought because the next thing she knew, he'd caught sight of her and took a steep dive straight down towards her. Her eyes widened and heart raced as she saw what looked like him falling to the ground, but at the last minute, he pulled himself parallel to the ground and zoomed over to her.

"What are you doing here Granger?" His words were harsh and she was taken aback at first, but she mentally reminded herself that he was only acting this way towards her as a result of that letter. Then she realized that she didn't really have an excuse to have followed him down here.

"I was just….um…going for a stroll?" she said unsurely.

He narrowed his gaze at her. "Granger, I'm pretty sure a stroll for you means ending up in the library with your beloved books, not out here on the quidditch field. I'm surprised you even knew where it was. You don't usually pick up on things that normal people would consider fun, seeing as you've always got your nose stuck in a bloody book." He knew in the back of his mind he would regret this, but he was just so angry! He didn't want anyone to see him right now for this exact reason. He didn't have his normal control over his emotions and when that happened, he said things he didn't mean and became very offensive. He hoped she would leave before he did something really stupid like call her mudblood again.

He saw a look on her face that if anything he would guess was hurt, but it was only there briefly before another one took over. It looked like concern or maybe even…pity? Oh no, he would have none of that!

"I just wanted to…um…"

"You just wanted to what? Stick your nose in other people's business?" he all but shouted at her. "Granger maybe you don't understand, so let me spell it out for you. I want you to leave. I don't want to be around anyone right now!"

The concern, or pity, left her face and in its place came a determined expression. She looked him in the eye and calmly but firmly stated, "I know what you're doing Malfoy and it's not going to work."

"Oh? And what exactly am I doing?" he asked.

"You're taking your frustrations over whatever was in that letter out on me."

He opened his mouth to vehemently deny her words, but then closed it. Yes, that was exactly what he was doing. It was a problem of his that sometimes damaged friendships or made people wary of him. That's why whenever he got in these moods, he tried to steer clear of anyone.

She could see him beginning to calm down, and decided to continue trying to talk to him. "I just…wanted to make sure that you were alright." She said slowly. "You seemed very upset. I was…concerned."

He looked at her then with all traces of anger gone. She was concerned about him? Her words were a very foreign concept for him. People he associated with didn't typically share thoughts like that with each other and they didn't ask about other's problems. It just wasn't the Slytherin way. But then again, Granger most definitely wasn't a Slytherin.

He sighed, got off his broom, and began walking back towards the locker room to put it up with her trailing after him. Merlin, what was she doing to him? He'd never met a girl who was such an enigma as Granger was. She could be bossy and infuriating, but in an instant she could become caring, and concerned. She was mature and responsible and had an air of innocence about her, but if she felt threatened or attacked she became strong, fearless, and gave as good as she got. He'd never met someone who could make him so incredibly mad, but then completely calm him down in the next instant. The affect she had on him was unbelievable. NO! There was no affect! He was Draco Malfoy; girls didn't affect him! But Granger was just so bloody different…

"Do you want to talk about it?" she questioned quietly looking up at him. He met her gaze and she could see hesitance in his eyes and she didn't want to pressure him lest he shut down and try to push her away again.

"You don't have to" she quickly added. "I understand that it's none of my business, but if you ever do need someone to talk to…well…I'm a great listener" she finished lamely. _'Oh great, I sound like some sort of guidance counselor'_ she thought to herself. He didn't seem angry anymore, but he also wasn't talking and she wanted to change that. She said the first thing that came to mind. "You were incredibly reckless up there" she blurted out.

He looked down at her again and raised an eyebrow, but now she was getting on her soap box, so she continued. "Merlin, I just don't understand how you boys can play such a dangerous sport! Do you know how high up off the ground you were Malfoy? No, you probably weren't even paying attention. And the speeds you were flying at, especially when you took those sharp turns! One wrong move and you could have fallen and gotten yourself killed. Killed Malfoy! And no one else was out here so there wouldn't have been any way to save you! Really this sport should be banned with everything that could and does go wrong, but no one ever thinks about safety when they're on those flying death traps! I swear I just don't-"

Draco threw his head back and began laughing hysterically. Hermione instantly stopped her rant to stare up at him. Whenever she was giving this lecture to Harry, Ron, or Ginny they let her get everything off her chest and wouldn't think of laughing in fear of making her even madder and resulting in her giving another lecture, but here was Malfoy practically guffawing. It really didn't bother her like she thought it would and she realized that she'd never truly heard Malfoy laugh. The sound was actually quite pleasant.

"Oh Granger, you're too funny!" he said giving her a smile. Not his usual smirk, but a smile that made him look even more breathtaking. "One would think after eight years you would get over your ridiculous fear of flying, but here you are so terrified by it that you're actually trying to ban quidditch just because it involves broom riding. Where's all that Gryffindor bravado?" he asked teasingly.

She huffed at him. "Being brave doesn't mean you don't have fears. And it's not a ridiculous fear, it's very rational. Merlin, I shudder just by _thinking_ of all the things that could happen when you're up in the air! Did you know that twenty six percent of leading wizarding deaths have to do with flying?"

"Leave it to you to know that statistic, braniac" he said still chuckling to himself. He put his broom back in his locker, then began walking with her back up to the school. "Granger" he said after a moment of silence. "How did you know I had left the Great Hall? And how did you know I was mad about the letter?"

"Oh. Well…I…I, uh…" she stuttered looking for a reasonable response.

His smirk came back as her stuttering gave her away. "You were watching me the whole time I was at breakfast, weren't you?" he asked arrogantly. Her blush that could rival the Weasley's hair completely gave her away and he laughed again. "No need to be embarrassed about your staring Granger, lots of people can't help themselves when it comes to me. I know I'm good looking. Definitely a better sight than Potty and the Ginger Wonder. Remember me telling you looking was free?"

"Shut up you git" she retaliated and hit his arm before walking ahead of him and muttering about how arrogant he was.

Draco only laughed once more as he followed her and remained in his cheerful mood for the rest of the day.

**AN: Aww, and so it begins! Another late night I have stayed up to finish and post a chapter for you guys. I even gave up studying for an upcoming test to get this up. Hope you guys feel my love : ) Please review! I honestly love hearing your thoughts!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything Harry Potter related. I own nothing.**

**AN: I realize that some of the Slytherin characters I am using would have been older than Draco, and already have graduated. But I needed them to form the quidditch team and I hate when people make up extra HP characters, unless it's a future fic involving them having kids. So for the sake of the story, pretend their all the same age.**

"Come on you bloody idiots! You're playing like a bunch of girls you sissies! Oh, stop looking at me like that Bulstrode, you know what I mean!" Draco snapped at the girl who glared at him as sweat poured off of her manly body like a waterfall.

The Slytherins were up bright and early, practicing for the upcoming game against Hufflepuff that Saturday, and were silently cursing their captain. This was his way of making up for the practice he'd cancelled when he was spending time with Granger two days earlier. But this year, Draco was taking quidditch very seriously and was commanding his team like a drill sergeant. He'd gotten them all up at five thirty and hussled them out onto the field where they'd conditioned for an hour and a half straight before moving on to actually practicing. He was worse than that Oliver Wood bloke, who'd graduated a few years earlier.

The team consisted of captain and seeker: Draco, the three chasers: Theo, Blaise, and Adrian Pucey, the keeper: Graham Montague, and lastly the two beaters: Goyle, and Millicent Bulstrode. Crabbe was the original other beater, but he'd died last year in the battle of the ministry and Millicent took his place. Though the buffoon had annoyed Draco to no end, he'd tried to convince him to get to the order and safety. But Crabbe had refused and embraced the idea of being a death eater. His dueling skills were slow and predictable and that and his own clumsiness and stupidity cost him his life while challenging the oldest of the Weasley siblings, Bill. No one ever talked about him, and Millicent was given the position without much thought.

"Montague! Wake up! That's the third time the quaffle's gotten past you!" Draco barked as he watched his team from his broom way up in the air. Truthfully, he had a very good team this year and they were such an improvement from some of the dunderheads that had made the team in years prior. But since this was his last year, he was bound and determined to win the House Cup, and he'd do it by whatever means necessary. McGonagall wasn't tolerating cheating of any sort this year, and that meant they had to come up with complex strategies and overall game plans. This wouldn't be too hard, considering they were Slytherins and planning and cunningness were part of their house traits. They'd win the championship this year, or die trying.

Though they were tired and cranky, the team managed to find their energy and pursue with practice. Bulstrode and Goyle beat all bludgers far away from the chasers, Montague managed to block more goals than got past, and the chasers each scored a number of goals, increasing their points. Draco was pleased with their efforts and finally decided to call practice…for now.

"Alright, alright that's enough. Get some water and go get ready for classes. We'll pick this up tomorrow after dinner." Draco called as his team flew down and dismounted their brooms. This morning had gone smoothly and he was confident that there was absolutely no way they could lose the game this Saturday. The thought caused him to glide along the corridors more smoothly, (because Malfoys most certainly did _not _carry a spring in their step) as well as his want to get to potions. He wanted to get to class because he loved potions and was a natural at the subject, not because he was anxious to see a certain curly headed brunette witch. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

Things between them had been changing since they'd called the truce, but after she calmed him down from receiving that bloody letter from Lucius, Draco had become even more curious about her. He knew he should be thankful for the fact that she'd been concerned for him, seeing as it was a sign that he was on the right path and closer to winning the bet, but it confused him more than anything. He'd been an arrogant and hateful bully to her especially for as long as they'd known each other, fought on opposing sides in the war though he didn't have a choice in the matter, continuously insulted her two best friends, and been harsh towards her when she first came looking for him at the quidditch pitch. After all that, any normal and sane person would have stayed away from him and probably wished as much misery on him as life could muster. And yet, despite all of this, she'd still come looking for him and not only wanted to make sure he was alright, but told him she was there to listen should he ever want to talk. Why would she care about his personal problems? Why would she want to make sure he was okay?

He couldn't answer these questions, and he didn't want to bring them up with his friends. They probably wouldn't have an answer anyway, because they also had probably never known someone like Granger. Slytherins stuck together for family and close friends, but it was no secret that they were always out for themselves and if you got on their bad side, you'd better watch your back. The concept of turning your cheek or helping your enemies was foreign to them, but here was Granger completely throwing him off when she did just that.

Draco continued to think about her as he went through his morning routine, ate breakfast, until he finally made his way into the Potions classroom to discover her already there with her supplies set up as usual. As soon as he took his seat beside her, she turned and gave him a small, yet warm smile. It sent a strange feeling throughout his body, but he found that the sensation wasn't unpleasant. Merlin, what was this girl doing to him?

"Granger" he said in greeting, with a slight smile of his own. "Happy to see me? Why am I even asking, of course you are. Who wouldn't be?"

She rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed on her lips. Her beautiful pink lips that she bit when she was in deep concentration he noticed. Lips that he wouldn't mind taking between his own as he-_WHAT! No! Where the hell did that come from? Stop it Draco, the bet, the bet, the bet'_ he kept reminding himself.

"Of course Malfoy, I'm ecstatic. Can't you tell?" she replied sarcastically. "Tell me, do you ever get tired?" she asked, folding her arms.

"Tired of what?" Draco asked confused.

"Tired of carrying around that enormous head of yours. Your ego is so big, I question how you're able to fit through the door sometimes" she had a smirk on her face that could almost rival his. Almost.

"Hilarious Granger" he said with his own smirk. "You know, that's not my only head that's enormous."

Hermione blushed a deep red, and scowled at him. "Must you be so crude?"

"Of course" he replied. "You should be used to it by now."

"Silly me for thinking you might mature with age" she muttered with another roll of her eyes.

"Oh Granger, don't act like it doesn't amuse you. It's a nice contrast to your mundane, boring life" he said smugly.

There it was again. Someone calling her boring. She wasn't! Oh who was she kidding, of course she was! But she wasn't going to admit Malfoy was right. In fact, just because it was him saying it, she was going to prove him wrong.

Before she could say anything though, Slughorn came in to start class. Today was a lecture day, and Hermione already had a quill and parchment out in front of her. But she couldn't focus on taking notes. She was so tired of everyone thinking she was nothing more than the know it all bookworm, teacher's pet, or goody-goody.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Harry sighed. This was fun at the beginning of the year, but it had quickly gotten old. He'd thought at first that this was one of the few perks of being the Boy-Who-Lived, but it was proving to be yet another curse. All of these brainless girls chasing after him and wanting to bask in his unwanted fame was starting to drive him bloody crazy!

He was sitting in his third period class, potions, with his partner Susan Bones from Hufflepuff. He'd never really been friends with Susan, but he knew who she was and would consider them acquaintances…before this year that is. Now, Susan had jumped on the band wagon of trying to win the affections of the Chosen One, although she was being rather stupid about it. She'd openly stare dreamily at him through almost the entire class, and wasn't much help when brewing their potions. She laughed obnoxiously whenever he said something, even if he wasn't trying to be funny. Several times she'd messed up their potion and had Snape been their teacher still, he'd no doubt be failing so badly his grades would be completely unsalvageable. Being a favorite to Slughorn definitely had its perks.

"Okay, we need to add three drops of newt's blood. Anymore and the potion will be completely ruined. Do you think you can handle that while I go and get some beetle legs from the cupboard?" Harry asked looking over at Susan.

She let out a high pitched giggle while nodding furiously, while Harry shook his head and wondered how what he'd said was even remotely funny. He turned and walked into the potions closet, looking for the needed ingredients. On his way there, several girls shot him sultry smiles and flirtatious looks, but he was hardly paying attention. Their attempts reminded him of Ginny's painfully obvious crush back when they were kids and how it was more embarrassing than flattering. Some of these girls were such trollops that it wasn't even funny. And rumor had it that a few were at Malfoy's beck and call. He'd go back to the Dursley's before he sullied himself anywhere near where Malfoy's dick had been.

Just as he was collecting the beetle legs, there was a loud boom followed by a high pitched squealing noise. He rushed back to the room to see that his cauldron was smoking and the majority of the potion had landed on Susan and a Ravenclaw boy at the desk behind him. The potion had turned both of their skins blue and singed their hair almost completely off. It must have let off a whistle or something before it exploded, because most of the other students, including the Ravenclaw's partner had taken cover under their desks. Everyone slowly came out from beneath their desks and began snickering when they'd caught sight of the two students.

Slughorn came out from his office to inspect the noise and assess the damage. "Miss Bones, I specifically said anymore than three drops of newt's blood would ruin the potion! You have to pay careful attention when brewing a potion, otherwise these are the affects. You and mister Corner need to go and see Madame Pomfrey at once. It will take about three days for her to restore you back to normal." The two students quickly left and Slughorn cleaned the messed up potion with a flick of his wand.

Harry sighed again. There went yet another potion ruined by Susan, and now he was going to have to start over completely. He walked over to his desk and looked down at his parchment, preparing to start at the beginning.

"Harry" Slughorn jovially exclaimed as he clapped the eighteen year old on the back. "It must be rather frustrating when a young potions master such as yourself is stuck with those of…lesser talents. I do apologize, I swear before this year, Miss Bones was rather exceptional in my class. I don't know what's happened to her performance."

'_She's more concerned with her performance with me' _Harry thought to himself.

"There won't be enough time for you to completely start over with your potion, so why don't you join Miss Greengrass and continue with where she and Mister Corner left off?" Slughorn suggested, pointing to the girl at the table behind Harry.

He gathered up his things and joined the blonde haired girl at her table, where she was reading the instructions in her book over and over again. She didn't appear as though she'd heard Slughorn, nor did she look up when Harry joined her. This may have been her snootily trying to ignore him, but Harry was relieved that she didn't immediately try to flirt with him or subtly touch him in anyway. Looking at her now, she seemed incredibly focused on the book in front of her and he realized that she probably didn't even know he was standing next to her. He cleared his throat to get her attention, and silently prayed that she wouldn't be an evil Slytherin like Malfoy, or that Pansy Parkinson chit.

She immediately looked up at him, and he noticed that she too had green eyes, though they were much darker than his own. Her straight blonde hair was pulled out of her face with a clip in the front, and though she wore makeup, it wasn't terribly overdone like Lavender Brown's. She had a straight and regal posture, and he could tell that the girl took immaculate care of herself, but he couldn't deny that she was incredibly pretty. He'd seen her in the halls all throughout their schooling years and recognized her as one of the Slytherins that came to the order last year, but he'd never talked to her and didn't even know her first name.

"Uh, hi" he said a bit nervously. "Um, since both our partners are gone, Slughorn decided we should be paired up." The girl hadn't said anything but was studying him now, and he felt a little nervous under her observation. "Right, well if you could just tell me where you left off with Corner, I can help you brew the potion. I'm pretty good at this particular subject." That sounded dumb to his own ears, and he thought the girl would think of him as an idiot, but to his surprise, her face took on a hopeful expression.

"Really? You're good at potions?" she asked.

"Well, yeah I'm fairly decent I guess" he said rubbing the back of his neck.

She gave a small sigh. "I'm afraid I'm rather rubbish at potions brewing. I've always struggled with it. Corner has been mostly brewing our potions and telling me exactly what to do so we don't fail. Now that he's gone, I'm trying to figure this out on my own, but I just don't have any sort of skill when it comes to this."

Harry had never heard a Slytherin openly admit that they were terrible at something, especially the subject their head of house was teaching. He immediately knew this girl wasn't like the others in her house such as Parkinson, and he liked that. She may not be good at this, but she was studying the instructions and seemed like she was willing to try, and he respected that.

"Well you're in luck then" he said with a small smile. "I'm no master of the subject, but Slughorn likes me enough that no matter what I hand in, I get exceptional marks."

The girl gave him a smile of her own and replied, "Using your influence to get top marks without putting in the effort of earning them? My, how very Slytherin of you Potter."

"What can I say, if it works just go with it, right?" he said with a chuckle.

"Absolutely" the girl replied, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. "We were just at the part where we needed to add beetle legs I believe."

"Excellent, I just got some" he said, taking them out of the jar and adding them to the cauldron. The liquid inside bubbled and turned a deep maroon color, just like it was supposed to. His potions hadn't followed through since he'd been partnered with Susan, and it was refreshing to not have to constantly duck and hide to avoid exploding liquids. "I'm Harry by the way" he said as an afterthought.

She raised her eyebrows at him with an amused expression on her face. "Yes, I know exactly who you are Harry Potter. I'd have to be living under a rock not to." He blushed a little, feeling incredibly stupid, but her smile came back upon her features. Sticking out her hand she said, "I'm Daphne Greengrass. It's a pleasure to meet you Harry Potter." They shook hands and spent the next twenty minutes brewing their potion and carrying on a pleasant conversation. She wasn't dumb like he'd presumed and had a little air of arrogance about her, it was nowhere near like Malfoy. He guessed that was just a hidden trait among the Slytherins.

"I remember seeing you around the order safe house a few times" Harry commented once they'd finished their potion and turned it in "You have a younger sister that came as well, don't you?"

Daphne nodded. "Yes Astoria. She's two years younger than us."

"I have to admit, we were all really surprised when all you Slytherins started showing up. We didn't think you'd go against your parents and thought Voldemort was going to use you to expand his army."

Daphne flinched at his casual use of Voldemort's name, and Harry remembered that some people still couldn't bare to say it. "It was either join your side, or become the sacrificial lambs to the Dark Lord. I couldn't stand to watch them torture and kill innocent people and they expected us to not only watch, but take part in as well. I didn't think we had a choice, seeing as it was kill or be killed, but then Draco helped me and my sister leave our house in the middle of the night and get to the Order. He told us to stay there and no matter what, refuse to join the Dark Lord and drop all contact with our father."

A scowl took over Harry's features. "You're friends with Malfoy, are you?"

"He's not so bad, I promise" Daphne said, taking up for her friend. "I know you and him don't have the best past, but if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be standing here now. I owe him my life."

Harry considered her words for a moment. While it was no secret that he and Malfoy didn't get along, he couldn't deny that his rival's actions greatly shocked him during the war last year. All the Slytherins that came and helped fight for the order each came because either Draco or Narcissa had gotten them out of their homes or away from their parents, and sent them to safety, risking their positions and lives should they have been caught. Even though Malfoy was still a huge fucking prat, he wasn't completely evil as Harry had presumed.

"I understand I guess" Harry said. "You seem as though you're closer to him than most of the other Slytherin girls. I've seen you hang around him, Zabini, and Nott. Kinda like me, Hermione, and Ron huh?"

"You're friends with that Weasley boy, are you?" Daphne said, scrunching up her nose. "The one who has a temper, said all us Slytherins were evil our coming to the order was some type of trick, and eats more than his weight in food?"

Harry opened his mouth to defend his friend, but picked up on the teasing note in Daphne's voice and saw the small smirk she now had. He immediately understood that this was just her dry sense of humor and that she only said those things because of what Harry had said regarding her friendship with Malfoy. She was just trying to show him that he shouldn't judge her friends without fully knowing them anymore than she should judge his.

"He's not so bad, I promise" Harry said, mimicking her words. They steered away from the topic of the war, and talked about other things such as their favorite subjects and their childhoods. When class was over, she'd asked if he would mind meeting up with her sometime to help her with potions. He agreed and couldn't deny that he'd very much enjoyed conversing with the blonde girl. Before he left, he went up to Slughorn and used his favoritism to get him to switch his partner from Susan to Daphne permanently. His year had just gotten so much better.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

"And just where have you been?" Hermione questioned as soon as Ginny came back in.

The redhead jumped, and placed a hand over her heart as she saw her best friend Hermione sitting up on her bed with folded arms and a stern look on her features. The image reminded Ginny of her mother and she rolled her eyes before quietly shutting the door and making her way over to her bed.

"No where important. Just felt like going for a stroll" she answered nonchalantly.

"Ginny, it's one thirty in the morning" Hermione pointed out. "Do you realize how much trouble you could have gotten in had you been caught by Filch or one of the prefects?"

"Guess it's a good thing I didn't get caught then" Ginny muttered sarcastically. She loved Hermione like a sister, but she was such a stickler for rules. Always the responsible one of their group.

Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes. She knew that Ginny was probably thinking about how boring she was, but she couldn't help it! This was how she'd been raised and just a part of her personality in general. "Look Gin, I know something is going on. You've been sneaking around a lot more and I never see you during break. I know there's something you're not telling me."

Ginny felt a little guilty. She didn't want Hermione to think that she was ignoring her or pushing her away, she'd just been so caught up with someone else and she completely forgot to spend time with her other friends. "I'm sorry Mione, I didn't mean to make you feel like I was avoiding you. And I have told you what's been going on. Sort of."

The brunette witch raised her eyebrows in question, motioning for the girl to explain.

"Okay, I've been sneaking around to meet Blaise at various spots around the school."

"You still like him?" Hermione asked. Usually her friend moved on to other boys rather quickly, but this little crush was no going three weeks strong. Apparently it wasn't as little as Hermione thought.

"Yes" Ginny said with a small smile. "Mione, I really _really_ like him! He's sweet, and charming, and funny, plus we have a lot of the same interests. And get this. He asked me to meet up with him the next time we go to Hogsmeade!"

Hermione smiled at her friend's gushiness over this guy, but she couldn't help the bitter feeling either. Ginny had Blaise, Ron was seriously considering getting back with Lavender, and she was still all alone. At least Harry was in the same boat as her. She wondered how he would react to his ex having already moved on, especially with a Slytherin.

"Mione, are you even listening to me?" Ginny asked.

"Of course Gin" Hermione replied, shaking herself out of her thoughts. "It sounds like you're really taking with him. Congratulations, I'm happy for you." She gave her a small smile, but Ginny noticed it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Coming over to sit on her bed, Ginny took Hermione's hand and said, "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean" Hermione asked, trying to brush the question off.

"Come on Mione, I can tell when you're upset about something. Is it because I'm seeing someone and you're not? Or is it because of Ron and Lavender?"

Hermione let out another sigh. "I guess that's part of the reason."

"I'll be honest Hermione, I don't particularly like Lavender, but Ron seems to be really taken with her and the two seem to genuinely like each other." Ginny's closed her mouth and seemed to think of something. "Hermione…you're not still in love with Ron, are you?"  
"No, of course not!" Hermione quickly alleviated that thought from the redhead. "I promise, I don't like Ron as anything more than a friend! We definitely don't work as a couple. It's just that…well our relationship not working…it made me think… oh Merlin, Ginny I'm a bore aren't I?!"

"What" Ginny questioned, not quite following where this conversation was going.

"I'm boring, aren't I?" she repeated. "I never do anything except study and get the highest possible grades, and everyone knows it. I didn't even realize until someone pointed it out this week, but now I can't stop thinking about it. And what if that's the reason Ron and I broke up? What if it really is my fault? Oh Gin, if I can't catch anyone's interest, I'll never find somebody!"

Finally catching on to her friend's insecurities, Ginny leaned over and gave her a quick hug. "Oh Hermione, you're not boring. For Merlin's sake, you're only eighteen and you've had more adventures than someone twice your age!" Hermione gave Ginny a look that showed her words weren't having the desired effect on her, so Ginny tried another approach. "I wouldn't say you're boring. I'd say since we're no longer trying to defeat a crazy madman, life's just really slowed down for you." Hermione considered Ginny's words for few minutes before her friend got an idea, and jumped off her bed and began digging through her trunk.

"What are you doing?" Hermione questioned, but Ginny continued digging until she found what she was looking for. She straightened back up, and presented Hermione with a small glass vile containing a gold colored liquid.

"What is this?" Hermione asked, taking the cork out and sniffing it.

"You've heard of liquid luck right? Well this is liquid courage." Hermione raised her eyebrows again in way of telling Ginny to explain herself. "Look, I think you're just lacking confidence. This year hasn't quite been what you expected and you're stuck with Malfoy until the end. You need something to give you a little push in the right direction. If you take this potion, it almost completely eradicated your fears and gives you the confidence boost you need. Take it when you want to do something daring or not like you. I promise you won't regret it."

Hermione was a little skeptic of this idea, but after hearing Malfoy's and Ron's words, she decided that she'd keep it around, just in case. She thanked her friend and the both of them got ready for bed.

"You know" called Ginny once she was under her covers. "Being in close contact with Malfoy for the rest of the year…you're really kinda lucky."  
"Ginny!" Hermione cried out, sitting up and looking over at her friend. "You sound like one of those annoying bimbos from his fan club. How exactly am I lucky?"

"Oh please Mione, even you can't deny he's gorgeous." Ginny said turning to face Hermione. "Plus with everything he did last year, he's got that dangerous hero vibe going for him. It's kinda sexy."

Hermione blushed a little, but she couldn't deny what Ginny was saying. Yes, Malfoy was most definitely gorgeous and very…sexy. "But Gin, he's still the most arrogant person I know. I can't believe one person can be so cocky!"

Ginny gave a small smile. "He's entitled to his cockiness. The boy is damn good looking and he knows it."

**AN: I apologize, I meant to get this chapter up earlier but for several different reasons was unable to. Mainly, laziness and a small case of writer's block, but also a family issue and school. These filler chapters are hard to write! Also, I decided that I won't put Theo and Luna together. Luna is a special character, and I don't think I can capture her personality very well, plus I don't know how I would create a scenario to put them together. Review please!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, I own nothing.**

It was official now. It wasn't a surprise to anyone by any means and everyone knew it was coming, but it had happened only last night and word had spread like fire by breakfast this morning. Ron and Lavender were a couple again.

In all complete honesty, yes Hermione was a little bitter…but not for the reason most would assume. One of Ron's biggest issues was his self esteem, what with being the youngest son from six boys and 'the dim-witted side kick of the Chosen One, and he needed constant attention and assurance that he was worth something too. He was, but Hermione wasn't the type of girl who could constantly sit around and tell him how special he was. Lavender was the perfect candidate for that job, seeing how she made a bigger fuss over him than his own mother. Though she and Hermione didn't get along and their public displays of affection could get bloody annoying, Lavender was exactly what Ron needed.

Her bitterness came from how everyone seemed to be watching her now. She'd been under a little speculation when Ron and Lavender first began talking again, because everyone wanted to see if they were truly over, or if Ron was trying to make her jealous in an attempt to get her back. She'd put on a happy front and after a day or two, they all seemed to quit staring at her whenever she, Ron, and Lavender were in the same room. But now that the two were in an official relationship, the scrutiny came back full force making her feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. They were all watching her closely for any signs of distress or jealousy. One slip up, even something as tiny as not getting good marks on an assignment in class, and they would all assume she still had feelings for Ron and couldn't accept the fact that he had moved on. She wasn't worried, but this added pressure made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

Also if she was being completely honest, she also felt a little…lonely. Ron had Lavender and the two seemed like newlyweds in honeymoon phase, and Ginny was still exploring her…whatever it was she had going on with Blaise. Sneaking around to see a boy whom her family and house probably wouldn't approve of had a thrilling sense about it. With Hermione's new insecurities about her responsible (possibly boring) ways, seeing these happy couples wasn't exactly doing wonders for her own self esteem. She let out a tiny sigh, then looked up at Harry who was looking down as he ate, trying to avoid looking at Ron and Lavender's display as they cuddled, kissed, and caressed right there in front of the entire Great Hall. Well, as far as having a significant other, at least Harry was in the same boat as her. As far as she knew.

The bell rang, and everyone jumped up ready to head to their first period classes. Ron and Harry both had Herbology first, and Hermione had potions. The eighth years had to be divided in with both the sixth and seventh years and due to limited space, were not grouped together with their whole grade as they had been in years prior. In fact, the golden trio only had about four classes together total. It was a little hard for Hermione at first, but as much as she loved her boys, there was no denying the fact that they definitely weren't scholarly. They wouldn't survive these advanced classes she took, and she'd be bored to tears in their regular classes. Besides, she liked the pace of these classes and the fact that Harry, Ron, and Neville weren't constantly interrupting her concentration by tapping on her shoulder and asking for help because they were completely lost.

As she sat at her desk and began pulling her supplies out, she couldn't help but overhear Parvati Patil gossiping with her twin sister Padma just a few desks away.

"…just soooo cute together! Ron and Lavender are a match made in heaven!" Parvati said gushing.

"I know! It's about time they got back together. I still question why they ever broke up in the first place" Padma commented.

"They shouldn't have, but someone _else_ got in the way" Parvati said, shooting a dirty look in Hermione's direction. Hermione's grip on her quill tightened in annoyance, but she stared ahead and refused to give Parvati the satisfaction of seeing her flustered. If she reacted negatively, Parvati would have it spread to the entire castle by lunchtime that she wasn't completely over Ron.

"Well, no matter now" Padma responded. "The important thing is that they're back together and this time they'll stay. Can you just imagine how cute their babies would be?!" The two sisters squealed in delight as they began talking about future Weasley/Brown offspring.

"Can you just imagine the horror" came a deep, silky voice from right beside Hermione, causing her to jump a little. She looked up to see Malfoy plop down in his chair and put his feet up on the desk. "More little red-headed weasels running around, poor as dirt, only with Purple's annoying nasally voice. Plus their combined low IQ's are sure to make some of the stupidest children the world has ever seen."

Despite the rude jabs at her friend, Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Her sour mood was now completely gone and those annoying butterflies that seem to take up residence in her belly whenever Malfoy was around were fluttering uncontrollably. She didn't even think about reprimanding him for propping his feet on the desk. "It's Lavender actually" she added in an amused tone.

Draco arrogantly shrugged. "Whatever. Even worse. Wonder if they'll name their brood after colors too. Orange Weasley comes to mind, or perhaps Tomato Red?"

Hermione shook her head, but the smile never left her face. "Think about Ron's future children often, do you?"

Draco shuddered and shot a playful glare in her direction. "Please Granger, even _trying _to picture such an atrocity makes me nauseas. Now stop talking about it unless you'd like to see what I had for breakfast."

Slughorn came in then and put instructions on the board for the potion they were brewing that day. "Ms. Granger, Mister Malfoy hold on just a moment there" he called to them before they could begin. "Madame Pomfrey is in short supply of a few blood replenishing potions and some healing balms. She asked if I could send some down to her and I told her I'd send some students down with them first period. Besides, I'm fairly certain you two could easily brew a simple calming draught, so don't worry about earning your marks for today."

He led them into his office and began handing them various bottles and vials containing different healing concoctions. "Madame Pomfrey wants to make sure she's got plenty in stock for the upcoming quidditch game this Saturday" he continued, handing Draco the last of it. "Not that I foresee too many injuries coming up. With the way you've been training the team, this'll be a clean sweep and easy win for Slytherin this year, eh my boy?" he said, clapping Draco on the back.

"Of course sir" Draco replied smugly, making his way out of the office with Hermione rolling her eyes. _'Men and quidditch'_ she thought to herself.

"Good, good that's what I like to hear. This is Slytherin's year to take the House Cup, I can feel it!" Slughorn said jovially. "Well, you two best be on your way then. She may want you to stick around and help organize them." They both made their way down the stairs towards the door, with Draco stopping to give Blaise and Theo a smirk while they shot jealous looks at him. "How come he gets out of doing this" Theo muttered sullenly. "He's the last person I'd trust to go wandering alone in the halls."

"But he won't be alone" Blaise responded. "He's got Granger here to keep him on his leash. Can you say whipped?" Blaise made a whipping sound causing Granger to blush, Theo to chuckle, and Draco to inconspicuously flip him the bird and usher Hermione out the door that much faster.

"I will never understand men and their fascination with quidditch" Hermione said as they made their way down the corridor towards the Hospital Wing. "Or any violent sport for that matter. What's so great about flying hundreds of feet in the air, avoiding bludgers and getting knocked off your brooms, only to get a ball through a hoop or catch a tiny golden snitch?"

"'Cause it's fun?" Draco responded sarcastically. "Tell me Granger, have you ever tried quidditch?"

"I've been to all of Gryffindor's games since first year, and when visiting the Burrow I've watched-"

"See, that's just what I mean" Draco said, cutting her off. "You've only _watched_, never _played_. Don't be so quick to judge something you've never tried."

"I don't see myself ever trying it" she said, shaking her head. "Everything about it just screams danger."

"Granger, you're not still afraid of flying…are you?" Draco asked. She didn't answer, but her inability to meet his gaze gave her away and he smirked. "You are, aren't you? Oh Granger, you continue to astound me. Aren't Gryffindors supposed to be fearless?"

"Everyone has fears" she responded hotly. "And my fears of flying are completely justified. One wrong move, and you plummet to your death!"

"Yet you have no problem prancing off after Scarhead and Gingie year after year on ridiculous suicide missions, or facing big bad death eaters, or taking on one of the darkest wizards of all time" he countered. "Yeah, your justification makes a lot of sense."

This wasn't the first time she'd had this argument with someone. Ginny had been quick to point it out whenever she wanted Hermione to join them for a quidditch game at the Burrow, so Hermione was fast with her rehearsed response. "Everytime I went with _Harry and Ron_ on a mission" she began, emphasizing their names and giving him a pointed look, "I was reminded that we were doing things that ultimately led to the greater good for everyone else, or helping out those in need. There was someone who needed my help, or there was an ultimate end goal. There is neither when it comes to flying, so I'd be placing myself in danger for no reason."

Draco merely rolled his eyes. "You're such a bleeding heart Granger. You and all your bloody Gryffindorks." He gave her a slight nudge with his shoulder to show he was kidding. She nudged him back, then gave him that beautiful smile of hers that always sent a pleasant jolt through his body. His reactions to something as little or insignificant as her smile always made him wonder just when she'd started getting under his skin, but before he could dwell on it this time, they had reached the hospital wing.

"Oh thank goodness! I was beginning to think Professor Slughorn had forgotten again. Mister Malfoy, Miss Granger please come this way" Madame Pomfrey called, leading them into her office. Once they were inside, they noticed the medicine cabinet where the nurse kept different types of potions than standard healing potions and such was opened and she went hurriedly to close and lock it up. These potions were for nastier types of infections, both regular and magical.

"Just put them on the desk, and allow me to make some room on my shelves back here" she said going through a door that led into another room in her office.

"Drakie, what are you doing here? Are you hurt?" came a high pitched voice causing both Hermione and Draco to jump and turn around to see none other than Pansy sitting in one of the chairs. She immediately got up and came over to inspect Draco, who was trying futilely to get away from her wandering hands. The small office space and having his arms full of potions were rendering his actions useless.

"Pansy, I'm fine. Now get off me" he growled lowly, shooting the pug faced girl a glare. She ignored him, and only brought herself closer to him. "Draco baby, tell me exactly where it hurts! Want me to kiss it all better?"

Hermione had to stifle her laughter as she set the potions carefully on Madame Pomfrey's desk. Pansy made more of a fuss over Draco than Lavender did over Ron, which was no easy task. The only difference was that while Ron welcomed and craved it, Draco was absolutely disgusted by it. You couldn't get more opposite than a Weasley and a Malfoy.

Draco was able to push Pansy aside and had just enough time to set his potions on the desk before the dark haired girl attached herself to his arm. "Remember when I snuck in here to see you after you got injured during one of your quidditch games in fifth year?" Pansy cooed at him. "I made you feel all better, didn't I? I still think about that night, don't you? We could have a replay if you want. There's our bed right over there" she said, pointing through the office door to one of the cots.

"No, as I remember it, you reopened my wound and your screeching like a banshee nearly got us in trouble" he said, trying unsuccessfully to pull his arm out of her grip. "That is _not_ our bed, because nothing is _ours._ If you're that horny, why don't you go blow a huff-n-puff? Trust me, you'd have better luck.

Hermione blushed again at their implications but couldn't keep in the laughter this time at Pansy's lack of tact. Merlin the girl was such a slut! Draco shot an exasperated look in Hermione's direction, while Pansy turned to glare at her.

"What are you doing here, mudblood? Is it your fault my Drakie is in here?" she asked scathingly.

Hermione returned her glare and put her hands on her hips, but before she could tell her off, Draco beat her to it. "I told you not to call her that" he said through clenched teeth.

Pansy looked back at him with her mouth agape, and Draco finally managed to pry her hands off of him. "You can't be serious! Surely you're joking?"

"Do I look like I'm joking to you?" he asked, looking down at her menacingly.

Pansy cowered a little under his gaze, but straightened back up and stomped her foot. "What is wrong with you?" she all but shrieked. "I thought you were kidding or something that day in potions, but you're actually taking up for her! She and her kind are _beneath_ us Draco, you know that! She doesn't even deserve to be in our world! What has happened to you?!"

"What in the world is going on in here?" Madame Pomfrey asked, coming back into the small office and the scene of three teenagers glaring at each other. None of them seemed to have heard her and it looked like Pansy and Draco were having a silent staring showdown.

"Madame Pomfrey?" called a male voice from just outside the office.

"Just a minute Mr. Goldstein" she called back. She turned to face the others and said, "Miss Parkinson, the potion you took should already have taken its effect on you, but I'll run a quick scan just to make sure in a few minutes. Go sit on one of the cots and wait for me." Pansy finally took her eyes off Draco, gave a sneer in Hermione's direction, then stomped out of the office. The elderly woman shook her head and turned to the other two. "Miss Granger, there is a potion in my bottom drawer with Mr. Goldstein's name on it. Give him three doses and put it back please. Mister Malfoy, help me organize these potions on my shelf alphabetically. This should only take a couple of minutes and then you two should be on your way back to class." Draco and Hermione nodded and moved to do as the older woman said.

Hermione reached into the drawer and pulled out a bottle of orange potion. From the looks of it, it seemed to be a very strong allergy reliever potion. She'd seen it and studied it in potions and it was very potent. She walked out of the office, with Pansy glaring at her the whole time, and approached Anthony Goldstein.

"Hi Anthony" she said brightly.

"H-h-hi Herm-mione" Anthony stuttered back with a blush taking over his features.

Anthony was a fellow eighth year in Ravenclaw, and extremely bright. He was third in their year, and like Hermione could often be found in the library or studying during breaks. However, Anthony was very sickly and had terrible allergies constantly throughout the year. His was allergic to nearly everything under the sun and had to carry around his own box of tissues because he was constantly sneezing or coughing.

"Madame Pomfrey's a little busy, so she asked me to administer your potion for you" Hermione said, measuring out three doses and handing it to Anthony.

"Right" Anthony said reaching out fast for the spoon, and nearly dropping it in the process. He righted it and took it in one gulp, then handed it back to Hermione. "Uh, thanks Hermione" he said, still blushing.

"No problem" she said with a smile.

"You look very, uh, pretty today" he continued, not meeting her eyes, and fumbling his hands awkwardly.

"Thank you" Hermione responded, wondering why he was so fidgety. She'd known Anthony since first year, and they'd studied together before in the library, but he'd never acted like this around her. She wondered what his problem was. _'Must be feeling a little under the weather'_ she thought to herself.

"Granger" Malfoy's voice cut in, coming up right behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see him standing closer than she'd assumed, and glaring heatedly at Anthony. Despite his initial awkwardness and shyness around her, Anthony was returning Malfoy's look with one of his own. The two seemed to be having a battle with their eyes, and confusing Hermione as to why they appeared so hostile. Before she could say anything, Madame Pomfrey came up.

"Thank you Miss Granger" she said taking the bottle. "You and Mister Malfoy can return to class now."

Before Hermione could respond, Draco put his arm around her waist and guided her to the exit, then turned around and shot a smug look at Anthony. Pansy, who'd been completely forgotten, let out an undignified cry, but Draco had already led them out of the Hospital Wing and into the corridor.

They walked in silence for a few moments, but Draco's hand was still around Hermione's waist. The butterflies in her stomach were fluttering like mad and she found that having Draco's arm around her felt really nice. She looked up at him to see that he had a slight scowl on his face and seemed like he was deep in thought.

"What was that all about" she asked, watching his face.

"What?" Draco asked, looking down and meeting her eyes. She'd never admit it, but she thought he had the most beautiful eyes than anyone she knew. They were silver, but if you looked closely around the irises, there were little specs of blue.

"You looked like you wanted to rip Anthony's head off back there" she answered, shaking herself from thoughts about his beautiful eyes.

He scowled again and took his arm off her, much to her disappointment. "I have no idea what you're talking about Granger" he said shoving his hands into his pockets. "I always act like that around Germstein. His bloody sickness contaminates the precious air I breathe and being in the same vicinity as him is downright degrading."

Hermione rolled her eyes at his complaining. Sometimes he was such a diva. "Scared of a few germs Malfoy? Don't you think that's a little silly?"

His arrogant smirk came back across his features as he looked down at her. "Not as silly as your stupid fear of flying."

**XOXOXOXOXO**

"Password?" the portrait spit out irately, not being thrilled at having been woken up.

"Password" Blaise supplied while rolling his eyes. Honestly, could his housemates not come up with anything more original? Hufflepuffs could figure this one out.

The portrait swung open revealing the Slytherin common room all the while muttering crossly about how students out after curfew should be punished most severely. Blaise crept in through the hole, past the common room, and up the stairs to his room, trying to be as quiet as possible. This was the second time he'd had to sneak back into his quarters due to having completely lost track of time. That was so easy to do whenever he was around Ginny.

Ginny. Merlin, the red-headed spit fire was something else! He'd never met a girl like her and he loved every minute spent in her company. She was funny, sassy, beautiful, and not afraid to tell it like it is. She was also an excellent quidditch player. They'd been swapping quidditch stories tonight and some of their favorite moves. Neither of them gave their best techniques away, (after all they were on opposing teams and their game against each other was coming up in a few weeks) but they did have a lot of the same strategies and played the same position on their teams.

He liked her. He liked her a _lot._ But for right now, things between them had to remain on the down low. Though they had a lot in common, there was also a lot going against them. For one thing, he was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor. The two houses shared a rivalry all the way back to the founder's era. Secondly, she was a Weasley and her entire family not only looked down on the Slytherins, but was rooting for her to get back with the 'Chosen One.' If Weasel King found out his darling baby sister was sneaking around the castle to spend time with a snake, he'd come after him with the intent of bloodshed. Blaise wasn't scared of Ron Weasley, but the family stuck together in a pack and he didn't want to be on the hit list to a bunch of freckle-faced, fiery-tempered gingers.

Not to mention that his own house wasn't particularly keen on Gryffindors, especially the Weasleys. If his housemates knew that he was secretly seeing the youngest of their clan, he may be labeled a traitor or kicked off his quidditch team. Okay, he was over-exaggerating since most of his housemates not only didn't care much for blood status, but were getting along swimmingly with opposing houses as well. Plus Slytherins always stuck together and looked out for each other, no matter what. His best mate Draco was a prime example, considering everything he did last year to protect his friends from the Dark Lord…

Though it may not be as bad as he was making it out to be, he didn't think his house would be overly excited over his new relationship and for that and other reasons, both he and Ginny agreed that it would be better for them to just remain a secret for now. This was why he was currently sneaking into his dorm at almost two in the morning.

Blaise noticed both lumps in the other beds and could hear their steady breathing. He let out a sigh of relief as he quietly shut the door, ecstatic that he was able to sneak in again and avoid their line of questioning. As soon as he released his breath though, the lights in their room instantly came on and Theo's voice screamed out "GOTCHA!"

Blaise jumped at the unexpectedness and saw both Theo and Draco sitting up in bed and grinning madly at him. Damnit, he knew he should have just crashed on the couch in the common room! He could have just said that he fell asleep studying or something, but now his friends knew he was sneaking out and he'd just been caught.

"Why hello Blaise. Nice of you to join us at-"Theo paused and made a big show of checking the clock on their wall, "Oh, two o clock in the morning. Care to inform us of your whereabouts?"

Blaise scowled at him and made his way over to his bed while pulling his shirt off. "Piss off Theo. I don't owe you any explanations."

"Touchy" Draco commented while tutting at Blaise, though his smirk remained. The blonde studied his friend as he stripped down to his boxers before clambering into bed. The Italian raised his eyebrows and finally asked "What?"

"Hmmm" Draco began. "Well let's see. This is the second time you've snuck back in past curfew. You're not sweaty, flushed, or smelly, so you haven't been practicing quidditch. You're clothes aren't wrinkled or messed up in any way so you haven't been shagging. You're not carrying any books or parchments, so don't even bother telling us you've been studying or doing homework. After all of these observations, both Theo and I have reached a similar theory. Well, I reached it seeing as Theo here is seriously lacking brains" Draco paused as Theo gave an undignified snort and scowled. "You, my dear Blaise, have been meeting up with a special someone. But seeing as you don't want to inform us of your choice, either she's incredibly ugly, or it's a bloke. I always did question your sexuality" he said sarcastically sweetly while Theo matched his smirk and stared Blaise down.

Blaise scowled and glared at both boys. They may have been the brothers he never had, but sometimes he really hated them. "Believe me it's not a bloke, nor is she ugly. Far cry from it actually."

"Aah, so now that you've admitted that you are in fact seeing someone, there's still the issue of why you feel the need to hide her from us" Draco continued, although he had dropped his smug smirk. "I'm going to go ahead and conclude that she's from another house, most likely Gryffindor, am I right?"

Blaise raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Theo mirrored his expression. There was no denying that Draco was clever, but his observations and ability to deduct was astonishing at times.

"Y-yes" Blaise nodded slowly.

"Well, seeing as you still feel the need to keep this a secret, I won't force you to tell us which crazy bint you've decided to pursue" Draco replied, though he wasn't angry or upset. "I'll admit I am a bit surprised that you seem to be seeing this mystery girl continuously instead of sticking to our shagging with no strings attached plan. Never pegged you as a relationship guy, but whatever. As long as she doesn't distract you from practice or the game this Saturday against Hufflepuff, I really couldn't care less." This was Draco's inadvertent way of saying he was alright with Blaise being with a Gryffindor, and also that he didn't care of her blood status. While Blaise appreciated this, he still didn't feel like this was the right time to tell him it was Ginny. The hatred between the Malfoys and Weasleys had been going strong for centuries, and though Draco may not have a particular problem with the youngest Weasley in general, he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to tease Blaise nonstop about the 'She Weasel.'

"Good to know, I guess" Blaise said, putting his arms behind his head and leaning back. "Don't worry, it won't interfere with my quidditch performance anymore than you've let Granger interfere with yours."

Theo snickered, while Draco shot an annoyed look at his friend. "Granger has _not_ been interfering with my quidditch performance! The bloody bint has not been affecting me whatsoever!"

"Oh really? Hey Theo, what do you call it when the captain of the quidditch team completely forfeits a practice to spend some time with a girl?" Blaise asked sarcastically.

"I'd say you call it a bloody bint having an affect on a guy" Theo responded, throwing Draco's words back at him.

Draco merely rolled his eyes. "Please, you two are even stupider than I thought. Which is no easy feat, believe me. In case you've forgotten, you two buffoons gave me the challenge of seducing the know it all. Since Granger's such a fucking prude, it'll take a lot of time and effort on my part. That's all it is, and in no way whatsoever does she have any type of affect on me!"

"Could have fooled me" Blaise said with a smirk. "Regardless of what you say, you still cancelled quidditch practice just to spend time with her. And in no way were you 'seducing' her in the library. You were having a pleasant conversation, void of any sexual advances. Admit it, you like her!"

"I most certainly do not!" Draco said, getting red in the face. The nerve of Blaise, actually suggesting something so farfetched! Sure, she was smart, and kind, caring, compassionate, pretty, determined, and many other things, but she was still bossy and annoying and part of the reason he never got along with his father. He didn't, nor would he ever like Granger and the sooner he could sleep with her, the sooner he could prove it to Blaise and Theo, as well as himself.

"Of course you don't" Theo said sarcastically, lying back down. "You're too caught up with your hidden attraction to her friends. Bet you can't wait to tell them you're secret threesome fantasy."

"Shut up you bloody pillock" Draco spat, turning to the wall and trying to tune out their laughter. While they continued to make their jokes and taunts, Draco couldn't help but let his mind wonder to Granger. He didn't know what was happening to him, but he was actually coming to enjoy the time he was spending around her. She was smart, beautiful, witty, and also a tad on the innocent side. So unlike all the girls he'd ever known.

She may be the brightest witch of their age, but she was so clueless when it came to things such as flirting. She'd had no idea that Ravenclaw prick Anthony Goldstein, or Germy as the Slytherins called him, had a crush on her. Just thinking about it made something settle in Draco's chest and stomach. Was it jealousy? No it couldn't be, Malfoy's don't get jealous. He was just incredibly angry at the fact that Goldstein had the nerve to compliment Granger. _He_ was the only guy allowed to compliment her, no one else. Not even Potty and Weasel. That stupid, germ-infested, waste of wizarding talent couldn't even come close to being on Granger's brilliant level. It took everything in him not to send a Crucio his way and the only thing that calmed him down was putting his hands around her petite waste to show that she was there in the hospital wing with _him_, and giving him a smug smirk that clearly said, 'Back off, she's with me.'

Of course then when he'd put his arm around her, he couldn't ignore the tingles that went up it, nor the fact that he couldn't release her until they were a good distance away from the Hospital Wing. She was so small, soft, and warm, and fit perfectly into his side. He'd never really held a girl, but he wouldn't mind doing it with Granger…

He stopped that line of thinking and pulled the covers over his head in an attempt to shield his mind from those improper thoughts. He didn't like Granger. He didn't! He was in this to prove he was irresistible to all women, and would not get in too deep with her. He repeated this to himself over and over again until he fell asleep, but he couldn't stop himself from dreaming about her.

**AN: I'm so sorry for taking so long to update! I have pretty much the same excuses as last chapter, but on the bright side school has finally ended! So I need your help again. I had a scene in my head regarding Hermione and that liquid courage she got, but the more I think about it, the more I can't help but think how completely out of character it would be for her. I may still end up using it, but I'm trying to think of something else. This is probably going to sound confusing, but what's something you wouldn't expect Hermione to do, but still has her remain relatively in character? Something that would require her needing a boost of confindence in the right direction? That probably made no sense, but if someone catches what I'm trying to say, please please PLEASE give me your ideas!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, I don't.**

**AN: Have I told you guys how amazing you are? Well you are! Seriously, I am blown away with all of the feedback I've gotten with this story and cannot thank you enough! There've been times I seriously questioned where I was going with Wanna Bet and if it was even worth continuing, but your reviews keep me going. Your ideas are wonderful and have greatly helped with the plotline. You're all awesome!**

The Slytherins all stood behind Draco, pregame jitters racking through their bodies as they waited to go onto the field. They could hear their house cheering them on and Hufflepuff's cheers for their own team. This was the second quidditch game of the season, but the first for Slytherin. It was also the first time they were going to truly play fairly and not cheat in any way. They'd been training hard and set up a game strategy, hoping their hard work would pay off. They desperately wanted and needed this win.

They also knew that if they lost, they'd have to face their captain's wrath. When they'd met up in the changing rooms after breakfast, Draco had come in with a fierce scowl on his features and a horrible mood about him. His look alone kept his teammates from speaking to him and his pep talk was basically, "Win or else."

His team thought he had probably not gotten enough rest, or got into a fight beforehand, but only Blaise and Theo knew the true reason behind his foul mood. He'd gotten another letter from Lucius. He didn't incinerate it this time, and simply left it on the table, which Blaise and Theo immediately scooped up, read, and threw away. It simply asked how he was doing, told that he was making progress in getting the family business back, wished him luck for today, and said he would like to hear from him. They wondered why the older Malfoy was suddenly sending these pleasant letters to his son, when in years past he'd always berated him for losing his games to Potter, or being second academically to 'that filthy mudblood', but it wasn't their business and they shrugged it off. They couldn't focus on Draco's family problems now when they had a game to win.

They finally began moving towards the center of the field, all the while the crowds cheering and booing for the two teams. Most of both Hufflepuff and Slytherin were here, but looking around there were also a few Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. This didn't come as much of a surprise. The other houses, especially those on the quidditch teams, liked to attend other games to see how the others played and what to watch out for in their future games. The Slytherins did it too and just last week had observed the game between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

"I want a clean game-from _everyone_" Madame Hooch said, directing her stare towards the Slytherins. They nodded in response and she continued, "Captains, shake hands." Draco gripped the hand of the Hufflepuff a little too hard, then immediately dropped it as though he'd been burned. The Hufflepuff shot a glare in his direction and Draco gave a sneer in return. It was enough to make the boy gulp and drop eye contact. Fucking Huff-n-Puffs.

They mounted their brooms and when Madame Hooch blew the whistle, the kicked off in the air. Draco immediately rose high above the crowds and his own teammates so that he had a perfect view of everything going on below him and an advantage on spotting the snitch.

"And Nott takes the quaffle, zooming down the pitch" Seamus Finnegan's voice announced throughout the quidditch pitch. He was the announcer that took over after Lee Jordan, but his Irish accent sometimes made it hard to understand him.

"He dodges left… dodges right… is intercepted by Smith, and wait- he psyched out and passed it to Zabini! Zabini ducks…swerves down…and…SCORES! Ten points to Slytherin!"

The Slytherins cheered loudly as the scoreboard showed their points, and even a few of the Hufflepuffs clapped, realizing how good a move the chasers had pulled. Draco clapped, pleased that his teammates were executing the plans they'd been practicing so effectively. The psych-out move was tricky and had to be done just right, but Blaise and Theo had done it perfectly.

The game continued in the Slytherins favor for the next forty five minutes, with Hufflepuff only managing to score once. In that time, Draco had only managed to see the snitch once and darted after it, but a wayward bludger knocked him off course, causing him to lose sight of it and send a menacing glare towards Goyle and Bulstrode. So help him Merlin if Hufflepuff's incompetent seeker caught the snitch because those two buffoons didn't do their jobs, he'd run the fat right off of them.

"MacMillan has the quaffle and zooms down centerfield…dodges Pucey…flies over Zabini…throws the quaffle-OH! But is blocked by Montague! His teammates don't look too happy…swirlie in the locker room for you MacMillan!"

"Mr. Finnegan!" McGonagall called sternly from her seat. "Focus on the game and refrain from the unnecessary comments!"

Circling high above the game, Draco was proud of how well his team was doing. They had this game in the bag, of that he had no doubt. Hell, even the Hufflepuffs knew that and a few of the team members had all but given up. Now if he could only do his part and find that bloody snitch…

As soon as he thought about it, he caught a flash of a small gold shimmer. Following with his eyes, he saw the snitch hovering a few yards below him and to his right. He immediately turned his broom down and began chasing it. The Hufflepuff seeker caught on to what he was doing and flew in Draco's direction, but he was all the way on the other side of the field and there was no way he'd get over there in time.

The snitch wove through the air in an intricate design, but Draco never took his eyes off of it. Up, down, curving, and whatever else the tiny gold ball tried to do, Draco was always right behind it. He zoomed past his housemates, who were wildly cheering him on, and past the teacher's pitch as everyone seemed to be on the edge of their seats. The snitch wound around the Hufflepuff stands, and began rising higher and higher in the air. Draco sped after it to the point where he was almost right on top of it and reached out as far as he could. His fingertips hovered over it and he was so close…

Finally, his hand closed around it and he felt the tiny sphere in the palm of his hand. He flew back towards the field where Finnegan was just announcing his victory and the Slytherins were roaring loudly with their win. He flew down to the ground, where his team had already gathered and were cheering like no other. He received multiple claps on the back, and joined in with his team on celebrating their victory. Their first win of the season was under their belt, but it was also one of the few games they'd won without foul play of any sort. They'd worked hard to earn this victory, and no one could accuse them of cheating.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

"They obviously cheated! There's no way the Slytherins played fair! It's just not in their nature" Ron grumbled loudly from his seat at the Gryffindor table. He was so loud that a few people from other tables heard him, including some Slytherins. They shot him nasty looks, and he merely scowled in return.

Harry shook his head. "They didn't cheat mate. Trust me, I was there. I saw the whole thing. They played fairly and even had some really good moves."

Ron continued as though Harry hadn't spoken. "They cheat every year! It's how they manage to get to the finals at all, because let's face it-they're not any good. Not a one of 'em has any real talent."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron's biased behavior, but beside her Ginny was slowly starting to turn red with anger. "I was there as well Ron" she told him annoyed. "Not once did they break any of the rules. They played hard and earned their win. And yes, for your information, their team does have real talent! They're actually very good this year."

Ron stared at his sister in annoyance. "How can you say that Gin? This is Slytherin we're talking about! Name one of them that actually has any skill."

_'Malfoy'_ Hermione immediately thought then was shocked how quickly and easily that thought entered her head. But there was no denying it…he was an excellent quidditch player and could go on to one of the International quidditch teams if he so desired.

"Easy" Ginny replied, flipping her long red locks behind her back. "Blaise Zabini."

"Zabini?" Ron asked incredulously. "What in the world makes you think that tosser has any talent?"

"Well I watched him all during the game yesterday-"

"What the bloody hell are you doing watching that snake?!" Ron said, voice starting to rise.

Ginny shot him a glare similar to that of their mother's. "_Because Ronald_" she growled. "We play the same positions and I was watching him to see his moves and techniques and what to watch out for during our own game against them in a few weeks. Besides, I have the right to watch whomever I want and Blaise happens to be _very_ rewarding to look at-"

"Ginny!" Ron cried out loudly, a horrified look on his face.

"_And_" Ginny continued as though he hadn't interrupted, "I was with the rest of my Gryffindor teammates, sizing up our competition so that we'll be ready for both Hufflepuff and Slytherin when we go against them. Something you should have been doing too, but you were too busy sucking face with _Lav-Lav_" she finished with a grimace.

Ron had the decency to look a bit ashamed at his sister's words. Not of his girlfriend, but of the fact he hadn't been there with the rest of his team. Watching other games wasn't mandatory of the other houses, but the Gryffindors liked to do it anyway. It showed their dedication to the sport. Harry wasn't angry with his best mate, but the same couldn't be said for the other teammates.

"Well" Ron said, avoiding eye contact with his sister. "I still don't believe they played an entire game without cheating at least once. They had to have! And even if by some crazy chance they didn't, I know they'll cheat next game. Hell, everybody knows it including McGonagall! If the old woman had any sense left whatsoever, she would just go ahead and disqualify-"

"Oh for Heaven's sake Ronald, will you just stop it?!" Hermione all but shouted, finally getting fed up with his negativity. Ron stared at her with his mouth open, and even Harry and Ginny looked up at her in surprise. Usually anytime they talked about quidditch, Hermione tuned them out or ignored the conversation altogether.

"In case you have forgotten" she said, fixing the red-head with a stern look, "McGonagall made it very clear that she would not tolerate cheating of any sort this year. She was there at the game too. One slip up from them, and she would have disqualified them without a second thought."

"But, she may not have-" Ron squeaked, only to be silenced by Hermione's growing ire.

"Just because she's older, doesn't mean she's inept Ronald!" Hermione cried. "She knows what to look for, and if she saw foul play, she would have called it. And if for some reason she did miss them trying to cheat, one of the other professors or spectators would have caught it and informed her. But they didn't! Even our own housemates didn't see anything suspicious and they were actually _at_ the game! So quit slandering them just because you can't get over your silly house prejudices!"

The four were quiet after her outburst, as they continued to eat their dinner. Ron was silently sulking, but Harry and Ginny couldn't agree more with what Hermione had said. They'd tried to tell him, but he just wouldn't listen. Years of dislike for the Slytherins had clouded any judgements he made towards them, and he just couldn't accept that they weren't so bad.

Their silence was interrupted when Lavender came bouncing over to them and put her hands over Ron's eyes. "Guess who?" she sing-songed in that annoying nasally voice of hers. Ron grinned and pulled her down for an over the top kiss. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny looked down at their food, each making a different face.

When the two finally separated, Lavender gave a general nod in the direction of the others, then seated herself next to Ron. Noticing how they were all being rather quiet Lavender asked, "So, what were you guys talking about?"

"Just the game between Slytherin and Hufflepuff this morning" Ron mumbled.

Lavender nodded. "It didn't really shock me that Slytherin won. Hufflepuff's team is absolutely horrible this year" she said, for once the others agreeing with her. "But don't worry, Slytherin won't be any competition for Gryffindor. None of them will be able to get past my Won-Won!"

Ron's chest puffed out with pride while Ginny and Hermione rolled their eyes. Did they honestly not know how ridiculous they sounded? The two started kissing and caressing again and were attracting attention from a few others at their table. It wasn't until they started baby talking each other that Harry finally said, "Merlin will you two get a room?" Ron blushed crimson and Lavender scowled, but they finally stopped.

Hermione looked up to see the time, and decided to head to the library for some last minute studying before her patrol started that night. "I'm off to study for the Charms test Monday, then I have to patrol. Don't wait up" she told her friends as she stood and headed out of the Great Hall.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

"You haven't seen me" Draco said hurriedly as he ran into the common room and into a corner before casting a disillusionment charm over himself. Daphne, Blaise, and Theo gave each other confused looks, not understanding their friend's odd behavior until they saw Pansy enter the common room a few seconds later.

"Drakie? I know you're in here somewhere" she called in an irritated tone. The three friends smirked at each other, finding the blonde's stalker situation quite humorous. You'd think the girl would've given up by now, but she actually thought she still had a chance at being the future Mrs. Malfoy.

"Where is Draco at?" Pansy asked coming over to glare at the three on the sofa.

Theo gave a shrug. "Beats me, I haven't seen him."

Pansy folded her arms and began tapping her foot. "Don't play games with me, I know he came this way. Quit stalling and just tell me!"

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Salazar Pansy, what part of leave him alone do you not get? He doesn't like you! I don't know how to say it any plainer, and heaven knows he's tried to spell it out for you multiple times."

"Mine and Draco's relationship doesn't concern you Daphne, so stay out of it" Pansy growled. Turning to face the boys she said, "Tell him that I need to talk to him and it's very important. Think you two idiots can handle that?"

Blaise shrugged. "I don't know, I have a terrible memory. No promises."

Pansy let out an angry shriek and pointed her finger at him. "Just make sure he gets the message, or else!" With that she stomped off towards the girl's dormitories.

Blaise rubbed his ears with a grimace on his face. "I swear that girl is part banshee. The octaves she can hit astound me." Theo and Daphne nodded.

"Coast's clear" Daphne called and a moment later Draco came over, fully visible, and plopped down in his favorite arm chair.

"Merlin's rod, that has to be the daftest bint I've ever met!" Theo exclaimed. "Of all the girls in the castle, why'd you have to shag that one?"

Draco groaned. "Trust me, it's a mistake I regret everyday" he replied. "And all the others get that it's a onetime thing. Pansy's clearly barmy in the head."

"Speaking of shagging, how is softening up Granger coming along?" Blaise questioned.

Draco rubbed his face with one hand. "It's still a work in progress" he answered after a minute. "It's definitely gonna take some time, but I'm most definitely on the right track." Had he been looking at his friends, he would have noticed them sharing exasperated glances between each other and rolling their eyes. Why was he still in denial?

"Hey lover boy, isn't it your night to patrol with her?" Daphne suddenly asked.

"Oh shit, you're right!" Draco said jumping up. "Fuck, she's gonna be pissed!"

His friends laughed as he took off towards the portrait hole. "Guess we know who wears the pants in your relationship" Blaise called after him and if he wasn't in such a hurry, he would have sneered or at least flipped him the bird.

Draco hurried down the halls and came upon the place he and Granger usually met fairly quickly. Despite his hurry to get there, he stopped and took a minute to compose himself before coming up behind her. "I have arrived" he announced loudly and arrogantly as though he were a celebrity.

Hermione, who'd been lost in thought, spun around and fixed him with a stern look before putting her hands on her hips. "And twelve minutes late Malfoy! Our patrols start at a designated time for a reason. Where in the bloody hell have you been?"

"Ooh, such naughty words from the little bookworm" Draco taunted. He couldn't help it, she just looked so-dare he say it- adorable when she was angry. Her skin flushed a dark red and her little button nose scrunched up. It was almost comical really.

Hermione seethed at him. He was the only person she knew that could remain in a joking manner when she was mad. Though it infuriated her in the moment, it also made her look back on the situation later and find it…humorous? If it had been Harry or Ron, it most definitely would have added to her anger, but this was Draco Malfoy and he was very different from her friends, though she could pinpoint a few similarities as well.

"I'm serious Malfoy, being a prefect is a privilege! We set the example for the other students, and it's important that we-"

"Granger, it was one time!" Draco said, throwing his hands up. "I've been on time every other patrol, and I didn't make this much fuss when you were late for our first patrol did I?"

Hermione closed her mouth, not being able to argue that with him. But for heaven's sake, she'd only been late five minutes, not twelve! Still, late was late rather by a minute or an hour, so she really had no room to talk.

"If you must know" Draco said, turning around and beginning patrol, "I was trying to get away from Pansy. The crazy cow has been trying to corner me since we brought those healing potions to Madame Pomfrey."

Hermione let a small giggle escape her lips. She could just imagine the lengths the dark haired girl was going to to try and get Malfoy alone. Hermione had to hand it to her, the girl was persistent, even though _everyone_ could see how much the blonde couldn't stand her. "I've never seen someone so oblivious before" she commented. "Doesn't she know how to take a hint?"

"I know" Draco agreed. "I didn't think it was possible, but believe it or not there is someone stupider than Weaslebee." He expected a verbal lashing for his jab against her friend, but to his utmost surprise, she actually laughed. Like, full on _laughed_. Well wasn't this a shocker.

"They definitely have their oblivious nature in common" she said after she'd calmed down.

Draco looked down on her with an amused expression. If he had to guess, he'd say Ginger boy said something dumb or that upset her earlier. Otherwise, he had no doubt Granger would be launching into yet another lecture about his rude comments.

"So what did he do?" Draco asked, letting his curiosity get the best of him.

It probably should have creeped her out that Malfoy automatically knew she and Ron had had a disagreement, but he'd been predicting her quite well so far this year, that she almost didn't notice anymore. "He just can't seem to get over his dislike for any and every thing Slytherin related."

Of course, he should have guessed. "What did he say about us this time?" Draco asked, remembering how his friends had told him Weasley didn't want to accept them when they'd started going to the Order. Stupid, fucking, freckle-faced tosser.

"He kept accusing your team of cheating earlier today" she said, shaking her head at her friend's stubbornness. "He even went as far as to say Slytherin should be disqualified because 'they'll probably cheat eventually.' He wasn't even there today! It was just a biased judgment made because of the animosity he feels towards all of you. Why can't he just put it behind him like the rest of us?" It felt good ranting about Ron's behavior to Malfoy, even if she'd regret it later.

On the outside he remained calm, but on the inside he was furious. He'd been born hating the Weasley's, but damn if this didn't justify it! The nerve of that bastard accusing them of cheating! It had been made quite clear that even the suspicion of foul play on their part would result in immediate disqualification, and he'd been working his sexy bum off to ensure that not only were they playing fairly, but they'd come up with a killer game strategy and executed it flawlessly.

There were a million things he wanted to say, most of them related to insulting Weasley and his thick headedness, but the words that ended up coming out of his mouth were, "What do you think?"

Hermione didn't hesitate at all. "Of course I don't believe you cheated! I may not have been there, but I know you've been practicing hard to prepare and you wouldn't do anything to jeopardize your chances of winning the cup this year. I mean, you traded patrol partners so that it wouldn't interfere with your quidditch schedule-"

_'Not the only reason'_ he thought to himself.

"…and Harry and Ginny watched the whole game, along with McGonagall and the other professors, and not one of them saw any cheating! You earned that win and Ron had no right to accuse you of anything. I mean it's just like you said, we fought a bloody war over all this animosity and prejudice goes both ways. It's sad that some people refuse to get past it and try to mend all the damage that has accumulated over the centuries. Everyone deserves a second chance, because we all make mistakes, and if Ron can't get over his petty dislikes, then he's no better than all the death eaters sitting in Azkaban!" she finished her rant. She didn't know how she went from talking about the game earlier to the general issue with hatred among the wizarding community, but once she got started, she couldn't seem to stop.

Draco stared down at her in amazement. At some point during her speech, they'd stopped walking and were now facing each other. He didn't know why her opinion on the issue mattered to him so much, but he wanted the assurance that she knew how hard he'd worked for their victory and didn't believe the worst of him like many others, including her friends.

He continued staring down at her completely speechless. Her amber eyes were alive with passion, skin once again flushed in that deep red color, and unruly curls even more wild as they seemed to cackle with energy. By Salazar, she really was beautiful. She had natural beauty, not the artificial kind most girls had by caking their faces in makeup, but when she got passionate about something, she was such a sight to behold. He noticed one of her curls had fallen in her face and without a second thought, he took it between his fingers and pushed it back in place. Had her hair always been that soft?

She looked into his molten eyes with such an innocent and pure emotion that he found himself taking a step closer so that he was now in her personal space and she started breathing a little more harshly. He was unaware that his own breathing matched hers as her gaze darted from his eyes down to his lips. Her tongue peaked out to lick her lips, and he watched the action fascinated as he was reminded of the time in potions class when he thought about what it would be like to take the pink flesh between his own lips. Perhaps now he would get that chance. Without fully registering what he was doing, he began to lower his head towards hers, rapidly closing the space between them. She didn't step back or move in any way, seemingly unsure of what was happening either, but welcoming it all the same.

A loud crash from behind them caused them to jump apart and whip around, wands raised. One of the suits of armor had fallen to the floor and Peeves floated down the corridor, cackling madly. Draco cursed the poltergeist under his breath while Hermione put her hand to her chest trying to calm her racing heart.

After a few seconds of harsh panting, Hermione straightened up and flicked her wand at the armor, up righting it once more. Looking at a clock on one of the walls, she realized that it was getting late and she should probably head back so her friends wouldn't worry, though she'd told them not to wait up.

"I…I should probably go" she said uncertainly, not quite able to look at him. Had he really been about to kiss her? No, surely not. But then, what had he been doing? Merlin, she was so confused. She'd begun having strange feelings around him ever since they'd called their truce and now these feelings seemed to have intensified.

"Right" Draco said awkwardly after clearing his throat. She looked like she was going to say something further, but thought better of it and hurried off down the corridor without a backwards glance. He stood in his spot for a few minutes, watching her retreating figure until she was completely out of his sight. His thoughts were such a jumbled mess. He was actually going to kiss her, there was no way to deny it. He was going to kiss the girl that he'd despised since first year. Yet he didn't despise her anymore. Far from it actually.

At some point he finally turned on his heel and headed towards the dungeons. He still couldn't organize his thoughts because everything in his brain seemed fuzzy. Plus he was experiencing some very strange emotions the more he thought about his patrol tonight. Instead of the relief that he should have felt at the almost kiss, he felt…disappointment. He was disappointed? How could that be? He was supposed to simply be softening her up so that he could win this stupid bet. But just as soon as that thought crossed his mind, another one accompanied it. The whole time during their patrol, especially right up to the moment he was leaning down to claim her lips, he hadn't thought of the bet at all.

**AN: So you guys probably hate me now! Honestly, I hadn't even thought of putting that almost kiss in this chapter, but as I started writing, it just came out this way. I reedited this chapter like three times, but overall I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out. The quidditch game was the hardest part for me to write about, but I think it was fairly decent. Please review, your thoughts mean so much to me!**


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